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BROCKS MONUMENT, 

ON 

QUEENSTON HEICHTS, UPPER CANADA. 



- 



FAMILY RECORDS; 

CONTAINING 

MEMOIRS 

OF 

MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ISAAC BROCK, K. B. 
LIEUTENANT E. W. TUPPER, R. N. 

AND 

COJiONEL WILLIAM DE VIC TUPPER, 

WITH NOTICES OF 
MAJOR-GENERAL TUPPER AND LIEUT. C. TUPPER, R.N. 

TO WHICH ARE ADDED 

THE LIFE OF TE-CUM-SEH, 

\ M EMOIR OF COLONEL HAVILLAND LE MESURIER, 
&c. &c. &c. 



BY FERDINAND BROCK TUPPER, ESQ. 



" I cannot but remember such things were, 
That were most precious to me, " 



SllAKSPEAIi 



■' \ 




GUERNSEY: 

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY STEPHEN BARBET, NEW-STREET. 

MAY ALSO BE HAD OF 

BALDWIN AND CRADOCK, LONDON. 
1835. 



vTf 






TO LADY DE H AYILLAND, 



THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED. 



AS A SLIGHT MARK OF AFFECTIONATE REGARD. 



BY HER SINCERELY ATTACHED NEPHEW, 



F. B. T. 



PREFACE 



The following Memoirs were chiefly written at sea, 
in February, 1832, during a passage of nineteen days 
from Rio de Janeiro to Bahia, and the Editor has at 
length been induced to submit them to publication, 
from an anxious wish of collecting in one volume the 
many detached fragments contained in the Appendix. 
The greater part of these fragments, not generally 
accessible even now, would in a few years otherwise 
have been lost, and, as interesting at least to the 
family and friends of the deceased, they have been 
thought worthy of being preserved. To others the 
collection may appear too diffuse, but, as it either 
confirms or elucidates the previous narratives, the 
Editor was unwilling to curtail it. 

In composing the Memoir of Sir Isaac Brock, the 
Editor deeply regrets having laboured under the dis- 
advantage of being unable to consult any of the 
general's private papers, although he perfectly re- 
members, and is otherwise assured, that the few 
letters written by him to his family, during the 



Vlll PREFACE. 

American war in which he fell, were interspersed 
with comments and strictures on his being limited to 
defensive operations, and deprived of those reinforce- 
ments which he thought should have been sent from 
the Lower to the Upper Province. In consequence, 
this Memoir must be considered only as a brief sum- 
mary of his life and services, and as a concise 
introduction to the extracts in Appendix A. # 

Of Lieutenant Tupper's Memoir, the Editor has 
merely to observe that he transmitted a copy (omitting 
the observations at page 39, on the present system 
of naval promotion,) of the description of the attack 
on the pirates at Candia to Sir John Pechell, who 
returned it with an assurance of its being so substan- 
tially correct, that he had no alteration to make. 
Sir John, who at the time (December, 1832) was one 
of the Lords of the Admiralty, and M.P. for Windsor, 
also wrote : "You might add that Mr. Tupper went 
to the Mediterranean in the Sybille, when I was so 



* Since the Memoir of Sir Isaac Brock was printed, the Editor has heard 
another trait in his character, the mention of which may serve as a guide 
to other young officers, similarly circumstanced. When he joined the 49th as 
a captain, the regiment was disturbed by one of those pests of society — a 
confirmed duellist. Captain Brock soon proved to his brother captain, who 
took advantage of being a dead shot, that he was neither to be bullied nor 
intimidated, and the consequence was a challenge from the latter, which 
was promptly accepted. On the ground, Captain Brock, who was uncom- 
monly tall and athletic, observed that to stand at twelve paces was not to 
meet his antagonist on any thing like equal terms, and, producing a hand- 
kerchief, insisted on firing across it. This the duellist positively declined, 
and being soon after compelled to leave the regiment, the officers were thus 
relieved, by the firm and resolute conduct of a very young man, of the pre- 
sence of one, with whom all social intercourse had previously been difficult 
and dangerous. 



PREFACE. IX 



satisfied with his conduct that, upon his promotion 
and appointment to the Seringapatam, I prevailed 
upon the admiral to transfer him to the Sybille." 

The Memoir of Colonel Tupper is compiled partly 
from his letters and partly from data gleaned during a 
residence of upwards of five years (from 1826 to 1832) 
in Rio de Janeiro, where the Editor became acquainted 
with many individuals, English, French, and Chileno, 
on their passage from Chile to Europe, two or three 
of whom had known Colonel Tupper very intimately. 
And although, owing to the difficulty of procuring 
information at so great a distance, this Memoir may 
contain a few trivial inaccuracies, yet the reader may 
rely on the general correctness of the narrative. — Of 
the unprincipled faction still holding the reins of 
government in Chile, the Editor has not attempted to 
conceal his abhorrence ; but he can safely assert that 
while he has withheld nothing which his fraternal 
feelings prompted him to relate, neither has he written 
one word which he had not good grounds for believing 
to be strictly true. 

The life of the indefatigable and undaunted Te-cum- 
seh cannot fail to add to the interest of this volume ; 
it is drawn from various and apparently authentic 
sources, and the Editor believes that the sketch is 
more copious and connected than any which has yet 
been published of this distinguished Indian Chief. A 
perusal will probably awaken the sympathy of the 



PREFACE. 



reader in behalf of a much injured people, — it may 
also tend to remove the films of national prejudice, 
and convince him that virtue and courage are not 
confined to any particular station or country, but that 
they may exist as well in the wilds of the forest, as in 
the cultivated regions of civilization. 

Guernsey, June, 1835. 



Note— After the preceding Preface was in type, the Editor learnt by 
the newspapers, that on the 20th February last, the southern parts of Chile 
were visited by an earthquake, which was attended with almost unprece- 
dented devastation. Several of the towns mentioned in Colonel Tuppcr's 
Memoir were destroyed ;— at Conception only one house escaped the 
shock ; of its port, Talcahuana, not a vestige remained.— Chilian suffered 
nearly in equal degree ; and Talca, whose handsome and regular edifices 
ranked it as the third town of the republic, was transformed into a mass of 



rums. 



CONTENTS 



Pag-e. 
Memoir of Sir Isaac Brock 1 

Lieutenant E. W. Tupper 31 

Colonel Tupper .47 

Notice of Major- General Tupper 109 

Lieutenant Carre Tupper 113 

Visit of Indian Chiefs to George IV 115 

Appendix A. — Sir Isaac Brock. 
Section I. — British Authors. 

1 . Military Execution at Quebec 123 

2. Extract from Sir G. Prevost's General Order 124 

3. Extracts of a letter from Major Glegg 1 25 

4. Extract from Quebec Gazette 126 

5. Indian Council of Condolence at Fort George 128 

6. Verses on the Death of Sir Isaac Brock 129 

7. Extracts from James's Military Occurrences 130 

S. Quarterly Review 140 

9. Lieutenant F. Hall's Travels 144 

10. Howison's Upper Canada 145 

11. De Roos' Travels 150 

12. various Authors ib. 

13. New Monthly Magazine 152 

14. Talbot's Canada ib. 

15. Description of Monument in St. Paul's Cathedral. . 153 

16. Re-interment of Sir Isaac Brock ib. 

Section II. — American Authors. 

1. Extracts from Niles' Weekly Register 158 

2. Revolutionary Services of General Hull 162 

3. Letter from Captain Wool 164 

4. Extract from Jefferson's Correspondence 167 



Xll CONTENTS. 

Appendix B. — Lieutenant E. W. Tapper. 

1 . Postscript of the Courier J 68 

2. Guernsey Star ib. 

3. Extract from Whychcotte of St. John's 169 

4. relative to Captain Edward Gordon 171 

5. from a Portsmouth Newspaper ib. 

6. Transcript of a Letter from G. B. Hamilton, Esq.. . 172 

Appendix C. — Colonel Tupper. 

1. Certificate relating to a Fire at Barcelona 173 

2. Extracts from Lieut. Bower's Naval Adventures. . . . ib. 
3. Kotzebue's Voyage 1 7o 

4. Manifesto (in Spanish) "del Batallon Pudeto". ... 176 

5. Extracts from General Miller's Memoirs ib. 

6. relative to Colonel Tupper 177 

7. (in French) from " Le Semeur" 178 

8. (in Spanish) from General Freire's pamphlet, 

with translation 1 79 

9. Attack on brig Achilles by Colonel Tupper 180 

Appendix D. — Coincidences relative to Sir Isaac Brock, &c. . . 182 

Appendix E. — Speech of Sir John Doyle, &c 185 

Appendix F. — Life of Te-cum-seh, with various extracts 188 

Supplement. — Memoir of Colonel H. Le Mesurier 211 



DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER. 

' Brock's Monument to front Title Page. 

^ Good Harbour Page 33. 

Medal Page 48, 



CORRIGENDA. 

Page 103.— Note *.—For No. g, read No. 7. 

Page 128.— Line 3.— For Potawatimics, read Potawatimies. 

Page 191.— Line 9 .—(In some copies.) For hosom, read bosom. 



MEMOIR 

OF 

THE LATE 

MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ISAAC BROCK, K. B. 



Joy's bursting shout in whelming: grief was drown'd, 
And Victory's self unwilling audience found; 
On every brow the cloud of sadness hung, — 
The sounds of triumph died on every tongue t 



This officer was born in Guernsey on the 6th of 
October, 1769, and was the eighth son of John 
Brock, Esq., who by his wife, Elizabeth De Lisle, 
daughter of Daniel De Lisle, Esq., Lieutenant Bailiff, 
had fourteen children. His family was nearly con- 
nected by marriage with those of De Beauvoir, Le 
Marchant, and Saumarez, some of the most ancient 
in this island.* One of his brothers, John, a lieute- 
nant-colonel, was killed, in 1802, at the Cape of 

Good Hope, in a duel with Captain M , the son 

of a baronet : as steward of a public ball, he very pro- 
perly resisted the introduction, by his antagonist, 
of a female of a disreputable character, and the result 
was his melancholy fall. Another brother, Ferdinand, 
a subaltern of the 60th regiment, was slain in the 

* Major-General Le Marchant and his eldest son, a captain in the Foot 
Guards, who both fell in Spain during the late war ; and Captain Saumarez, 
who was Lord Anson's first lieutenant in the Centurion, and was slain in 1747, 
while commanding the Nottingham, of 64 guns, were members of these 
families, as is the present Admiral Lord De Saumarez, ennobled for his 
distinguished naval services. 
A 



2 MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

defence of Baton Rouge, on the Mississippi, in the 
first American war. The subject of this memoir pur- 
chased an ensigncy in the 8th regiment shortly after 
the termination of that war, and at the age of twenty- 
one he obtained an independent company, by raising 
the requisite number of men to complete it. Ex- 
changing immediately after into the 49th, he proceeded 
with his regiment to Jamaica, but was compelled to 
return to England very suddenly, having nearly fallen 
a victim to the pestilential effects of the climate, and 
an immediate embarkation being pronounced his only 
chance of recovery. Another near relative, Lieute- 
nant Brock, who was ill with him, died of the fever, 
and the survivor always thought that he was indebted 
for his life to the affectionate attentions of his servant, 
whom he afterwards ever treated with the kindness of 
a brother, until he died in his service, shortly before 
himself, in Canada. Having purchased the succeed- 
ing steps with unusual rapidity, he became lieutenant- 
colonel commanding the 49th regiment, on the 25th 
October, 1797, just after he had completed his twenty- 
eighth year. Owing to gross mismanagement and 
peculation on the part of his predecessor, who was in 
consequence recommended privately to sell out if he 
did not wish to stand the ordeal of a court martial, 
the regiment was sadly disorganised ; but the late 
Duke of York was heard to declare that Lieut. - 
Colonel Brock, from one of the worst, had made the 
49th one of the best regiments in the service. During 
the campaign in Holland, in 1799, he distinguished 
himself at the head of his regiment ; a horse was shot 
under him, and his life was in all probability pre- 
served in action, on a very cold day, by his wearing 
several black silk cravats, which were all perforated 



MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 3 

by a bullet, and which prevented its entering his neck. 
He was second in command of the land forces at the 
memorable attack of Copenhagen by Lord Nelson, 
in 1801, and was appointed to lead the 49th in 
storming the principal of the Treckroner batteries, in 
conjunction with five hundred seamen under Captain 
Fremantle ; but the protracted and heroic defence 
of the Danes rendering the attempt impracticable, 
Lieut. -Colonel Brock, during this hard-fought battle, 
continued on board the Ganges, of 74 guns, com- 
manded by that excellent officer, the late Vice-Admiral 
Sir Thomas Fremantle. Another of his brothers, 
Savery, served under him in the 49th in Holland, 
and at Copenhagen. While in the act of pointing 
one of the guns of the Ganges, his cocked hat was 
torn from his head by a cannon or grape shot, and a 
naval officer, who was present, recently described the 
scene which followed this narrow escape in these 
words: "I now hear Sir Isaac exclaim, Ah! poor 
Savery is dead ! But Savery was not an instant on 
his back ; in the same moment he rubbed his head, 
assured his brother that he was not injured, and 
fired the gun with as much coolness as if nothing 
had happened."* In the following year Lieut. - 
Colonel Brock proceeded to Canada with his favorite 
49th, and there remained, with only one intermission, 
when he returned on leave to Europe, until the period 
of his death. In 1803 or 1804, he quelled a serious 
mutiny which was on the point of breaking out in 
the regiment, part of which was in garrison at Niagara, 
under the command of the junior lieutenant-colonel, 
while the head quarters were fixed at York, the 

* The effect of the hall passing so near him was such, that although a 
remarkably tall, athletic young man, he was knocked down and stunned 
for a moment. 



4 MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

capital of the Upper Province. This officer, it seems, 
more by useless annoyance than by actual severity, 
had exasperated the men to that degree, that at length 
they formed a plot to rise on their officers, and to 
avenge themselves on the few who had incurred their 
resentment. Far be it from us to justify the attempt, 
which indeed was highly criminal, but in all such 
extreme cases we hold that a sad abuse of power, or 
a gross want of tact, must be the predominant cause, 
and that, even in the passive obedience of a military 
life, there may be a limit to human endurance. The 
proximity of the United States rendered this plot a 
very feasible one, as the men in a body could have 
crossed the river without molestation or difficulty. 
Colonel Brock was privately informed, it appears, by 
one of the men, of the conspiracy, and he immediately 
proceeded in an open boat from York to Fort George. 
On his arrival he ordered the detachment under arms, 
and walking up to a sergeant, whom he knew to be 
the ringleader, commanded him to lay down his pike. 
The sergeant, taken by surprise, mechanically obeyed, 
and those most culpable were fortunately secured 
without the slightest resistance, although, we believe, 
the plot was to have been carried into effect that very 
day. On being tried by a court martial four were 
condemned to suffer death, and, with three deserters, 
were shot early in the month of March, in presence 
of the garrison at Quebec. A most awful and affect- 
ing sight it was : the wind was easterly, strong, and 
cold, — a thick drift of snow added to the gloom, — and, 
as if to increase the horror of the scene, a few of the 
firing party, fifty -six in number, instead of advancing 
to within eight yards of the prisoners as was intended, 
owing to some mistake, commenced firing at the 



MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. O 

distance of at least fifty yards. The consequence 
was, that the unhappy wretches were only partially 
wounded, and dropped one after another. Nearly 
forty shots were tired before one poor fellow in the 
centre fell, although he was wounded through the 
abdomen at the first discharge. The men, who had 
reserved their fire, were at length ordered up, and, 
lodging the contents of their muskets in the breasts 
of the culprits, by that means put them out of torture. 
The unfortunate sufferers declared publicly that, had 
they continued under the command of Colonel Brock, 
they would have escaped their melancholy end ; and, 
as may be easily conceived, he felt no little anguish 
that those, who had so recently and so bravely fought 
under him, were thus doomed to end their lives, the 
victims of their unruly passions inflamed by vexatious 
authority. He was now directed to assume the com- 
mand at Fort George, or Niagara, and all complaint 
and desertion instantly ceased. 

The following are extracts from tw r o of his private 
letters, beyond which few or none have unfortunately 
been preserved : — 

"Quebec, September 5, 1808. — I have been here 
but a few days, having been superseded at Montreal 
by Major- General Drummond. I do not approve 
much of the change. Being separated from the 49th 
is a great annoyance to me. But soldiers must 
accustom themselves to frequent movements ; and as 
they have no choice, it often happens that they are 
placed in situations little agreeing with their inclina- 
tions. My nominal appointment has been confirmed 
at home, so that I am really a brigadier. Were the 
49th ordered hence, the rank would not be a sufficient 

* Appendix A, Section 1, No. 1. 



U MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

inducement to keep me in this country. In such a 
case I would throw it up willingly." 

" Quebec, June 8, 1810.— It was my decided inten- 
tion to have asked for leave to go to England this fall, 
but I have now relinquished the thought. Several 
untoward circumstances combine to oppose my wishes. 
The spirit of insubordination lately manifested by the 
French Canadian population of this colony naturally 
called for precautionary measures, and our worthy 
chief is induced in consequence to retain in this 
country those on whom he can best confide. I am 
highly nattered in being reckoned among the number, 
whatever inward disappointment I may feel. Some 
unpleasant events have likewise happened in the 
Upper Country, which have occasioned my receiving 
intimation to proceed thither, whether as a permanent 
station, or merely as a temporary visit, Sir James 
Craig has not determined. Should, however, a senior 
brigadier to myself come out in the course of the 
summer, I shall certainly be fixed in the Upper 
Province, and there is every probability of such an 
addition very soon. Since all my efforts to get more 
actively employed have failed ; since fate decrees 
that the best portion of my life is to be wasted in 
inaction in the Canadas, I am rather pleased with the 
prospect of removing upwards." 

Brigadier-General Brock was accordingly soon after 
detached to the Upper Province, and continued to 
command there with the exception of a short period, 
during which he returned in June, 1811, to Quebec, 
to act, we believe, as temporary governor-general, 
Sir James Craig having proceeded to England pre- 
viously to the arrival of his successor, Sir George 
Prevost. During his brief residence in Quebec he 



MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 7 

obtained his promotion as a major-general, and he at 
the same time anxiously repeated his application to 
the commander-in-chief for more active employment 
in Europe. At the close of that year His Royal 
Highness at length expressed every inclination to 
gratify his wishes, and Sir George Prevost was autho- 
rised to replace him by another officer ; but when the 
permission reached Canada, a war with the United 
States of America was evidently near at hand, and 
Major- General Brock, with such a prospect, was 
retained both by honor and inclination in the country. 
At the commencement of the second American 
war, in June, 1812, Great Britain having long been 
engaged in an arduous struggle in Europe, was totally 
unprepared to protect the Canadas with that force 
which an extended frontier of eight hundred miles* 
demanded ; and Major-General Brock, who was admi- 
nistering the civil as well as the military government 
of the Upper Province, could scarcely collect fifteen 
hundred regular troops for its immediate defence. 
With this very inadequate force, it was the opinion of 
the highest authorities that the Province could not 
be maintained ; but fortunately the major-general had 
so gained on the affections of all within his control, 
that, in the trying period of invasion, the Upper Cana- 
dians, with few exceptions, displayed a zealous and 
even enthusiastic loyalty, which surprised those most 
who believed they knew them best. These excep- 
tions occurred in the western districts, far removed 
from the seat of government, and which were the 

* From Quebec to Amherstburgh, at the head of Lake Erie. 

At the opening of the war in July, 1812, the regular force in the Canadas 
consisted of seven regiments of infantry, three of which were fencible bat- 
talions, one of veterans or invalids, and a detachment of artillery, amounting 
in all to less than four thousand five hundred men. The incorporated militia of 
the two provinces probably amounted to an equal number, — Quarterly Review. 



8 MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

more subject to hostile influence, as the population 
was partly composed of natives of the United States, 
or their descendants ; but there the machinations of 
the evil-disposed were quickly counteracted by that 
good spirit which animated the people generally, and 
Major- General Brock soon experienced the gratifica- 
tion of receiving voluntary offers of service from the 
militia most easily embodied. In the attainment of 
this important object gentlemen of the first character 
and respectability eagerly came forward ; and no 
sooner had the British commander reached Amherst- 
burgh, than he was joined by the Indian warriors 
in considerable numbers, among whom the gallant 
Te-cum-seh was conspicuous. The Americans com- 
plained loudly of the employment of men whom they 
termed savages ; but the major-general, with his 
limited means, could not consistently refuse the assist- 
ance of such willing and useful auxiliaries, the more 
particularly as, in compliance with his wishes, they 
submitted in some degree to the restraints of discipline, 
and promised to treat their prisoners with huma- 
nity, — a promise which they faithfully performed. 

The American government, previously to its decla- 
ration of war, had detached to the Michigan territory 
an army of about two thousand five hundred men, 
under the command of Brigadier-General Hull, who, 
said the president in his message to congress, " pos- 
sessing discretionary authority to act offensively, 
passed into Upper Canada with a prospect of easy 
and victorious progress." The enemy evidently con- 
fided in the very limited defensive means of the 
Province, and in the impossibility of its receiving 
early assistance from the mother country. They 
relied also on the supposed disaffection of many of 



MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 9 

its inhabitants, and they anticipated confidently that, 
weak and divided, it would fall an easy prey to the 
invaders ; but they were soon undeceived. Having 
reached the village of Sandwich, Brigadier -General 
Hull issued on the 12th of July an ably written 
proclamation to the Canadians, from which the fol- 
lowing extract deserves to be recorded here. "Had 
I," he observed, " any doubt of eventual success, 
I might ask your assistance ; but I do not. I come 
prepared for every contingency. I have a force which 
will look down all opposition, and that force is but 
the vanguard of a much greater. If, contrary to 
your interest and the just expectation of my country, 
you should take part in the approaching contest, you 
will be considered and treated as enemies, and the 
horrors and calamities of war will stalk before you. 
If the barbarous and savage policy of Great Britain 
be pursued, and the savages be let loose to murder 
our citizens and butcher our women and children, 
this war will be a war of extermination. The first 
stroke of the tomahawk, the first attempt with the 
scalping knife, will be the signal of one indiscriminate 
scene of desolation. No white man found fighting by 
the side of an Indian will be taken prisoner, — instant 
destruction will be his lot. If the dictates of reason, 
duty, justice, and humanity, cannot prevent the em- 
ployment of a force which respects no rights and 
knows no wrong, it will be prevented by a severe 
and relentless system of retaliation." Major-General 
Brock, in a counter proclamation, assured the inha- 
bitants " that Great Britain would consider the execu- 
tion of this inhuman threat as deliberate murder, for 
which every subject of the offending power must 
make expiation ;" and, alluding to the Indians, added : 



10 MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

"By what new principle are they to be prevented 
from defending their property ? If their warfare, 
from being different to that of white people, be more 
terrible to the enemy, let him retrace his steps. They 
seek him not, and cannot expect to find women and 
children in an invading army ; but they are men, and 
have equal rights with all other men to defend them- 
selves and their property when invaded." 

The deeds of the American general, however, but 
ill accorded with his boasted and real superiority of 
force ; and as his threats had not the effect which he 
intended, it had been better in him to have withheld 
them. After wasting nearly a month in preparations 
for the siege of Fort Amherstburgh, and not meeting 
with the welcome from the inhabitants in the neigh- 
bourhood which he had fondly anticipated, he retraced 
his steps precipitately to Fort Detroit, whither he 
returned with his army on the 8th of August. Major- 
General Brock reached Amherstburgh by water on 
the 13th, with a reinforcement of three hundred men, 
chiefly militia, having traversed Lake Erie in open 
boats, when he immediately determined on following 
the enemy into his own territory, and on attempting, 
by a sudden and resolute attack, the annihilation of 
his power in that quarter. With this view the troops 
marched with the utmost expedition to Sandwich, 
where a few guns were placed in battery, from which 
a fire was opened against Fort Detroit on the 1 5th of 
August. On this day Major-General Brock trans- 
mitted a summons to his adversary, in which he 
declared, "that the force at his disposal authorised 
him to require the immediate surrender of Fort 
Detroit, and that he was disposed to enter into such 
conditions as would satisfy the most scrupulous sense 



MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 11 

of honor." Brigadier-General Hull replied, on the 
same day, that he was prepared to meet any force 
which might be at the disposal of the British general ; 
who, nothing daunted, and contrary to the opinion of 
the next in command, issued orders to cross the strait, 
or river, which is here about three fourths of a mile 
in width, on the following morning, in the hope of 
inducing the enemy to meet his little force in the 
field. Accordingly, at the first blush of dawn, on 
Sunday the 16th of August, thirty men of the royal 
artillery, two hundred and fifty of the 41st regiment, 
fifty of the Newfoundland regiment, together three 
hundred and thirty regulars, with four hundred militia 
and about six hundred Indians, were embarked, with 
five pieces of light artillery, in boats and canoes of 
every description, and soon effected a landing without 
opposition ; the white troops at Springwell, three 
miles below Detroit, and the Indians two miles lower 
down. The former marched towards the fort, along 
the banks of the river, while the latter moved forward 
through the woods, and covered the left flank. We 
learn from Morse's American Geography, on the 
acknowledged authority of Governor Hull, that Fort 
Detroit, in 1810, was a regular work of an oblong 
figure, " covering about an acre of ground. The 
parapets were about twenty feet in height, built of 
earth and sods, with four bastions, the whole sur- 
rounded with pallisadoes, a deep ditch, and glacis. It 
stood immediately back of the town, and had strength 
to withstand a regular siege, but did not command 
the river." And as the American government had 
been for some time secretly preparing for war, it may 
be safely inferred, that in the mean while this fort 
had been rather strengthened than permitted to fall 



12 MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

to decay, and that it was at least as tenable in 1812 
as when Governor Hull, two years before, gave the 
preceding description of its defences. The enemy's 
effective force was estimated at nearly two thousand 
five hundred men, and, supported as they were by a 
neighbouring fortress, it required no little daring to 
pursue them on their own ground with such unequal 
numbers. Having received information on landing 
that a detachment of three hundred and fifty men 
had left the garrison a day or two previously, and 
learning soon after that this detachment had been 
seen that morning within a few miles on its return, 
Major-General Brock decided on an immediate attack. 
Contrary to his expectation, the Americans abandoned 
a favorable position strengthened by pickets and two 
twenty-four pounders, and retreated into the fort on 
the advance of the British. Ascertaining that the 
enemy had taken little precaution on the land side, 
the major-general resolved on attempting to carry the 
fort by assault. While the various columns were 
forming for that purpose, a flag of truce, borne by 
Captain Hull, was unexpectedly seen emerging from 
the fort, — Lieut. -Colonel M'Donell and Captain Glegg 
accompanied him back ; and shortly after the British 
troops marched in with Major-General Brock at their 
head, the American general having assented to a 
capitulation, by which the Michigan territory, Fort 
Detroit, with thirty-three pieces of cannon, * the 
Adams vessel of war, and about two thousand five 
hundred troops, including one company of artillery, 
some cavalry, and the entire 4th U. S. regiment of 
infantry, were surrendered to the British arms. To 

* Including six or eight brass field pieces, captured with General Burgoyne 
at Saratoga, in 1777; some of which were retaken by the Americans at the 
battle of the Thames, in October, 1813. 



MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 13 

this surrender the after preservation of Upper Canada 
at least, may in a great measure be ascribed, as it 
caused a delay of nearly a whole year in the meditated 
invasion, imparted confidence to the Canadian militia, 
and secured the support of some of the Indian tribes, 
who were wavering as to the side they should espouse. 
The conduct of Brigadier- General Hull is almost 
inexplicable, and can only be accounted for by the 
supposition that the boldness of his adversary's move- 
ments led him to believe he had to contend with far 
greater numbers ; or, that having threatened to refuse 
quarter to the white man found fighting by the side 
of the Indian, he was apprehensive, in the event of 
defeat, that this threat would be visited with severe 
retaliation, particularly by the Indians, whose fury, 
in a successful assault, it might have been very diffi- 
cult to restrain. To their honor, however, be it 
said, that although they took a few prisoners on the 
advance, the enemy sustained no loss of life beyond 
that caused by the British batteries ; and in general 
orders at Detroit they were told, that in nothing could 
they testify more strongly their love to the king, 
their great father, than in following the dictates of 
honor and humanity by which they had hitherto 
been actuated. » Leaving a small force in the captured 
post to keep the inhabitants in awe, Major-General 
Brock hastened to Niagara, a command he had only 
relinquished for the purpose of undertaking an achieve- 
ment which his energy and decision crowned with 
such unqualified success. His services, on this occa- 
; sion, were on the 10th of October rewarded with the 
i order of the Bath ; but he lived not long enough to 
learn that he had obtained so gratifying a distinction, 
the knowledge of which would have cheered him in 



14 MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

bis last moments. Singularly enough his dispatches, 
accompanied by the colours of the U. S. 4th regi- 
ment, reached London early on the morning of the 
6th of October, the anniversary of his birth. One of 
his brothers, who was residing in the vicinity, was 
asked by his wife why the park and tower guns were 
saluting. "For Isaac, of course," he replied; "do 
you not know that this is his birth-day ?" And when 
he came to town he learnt, with emotions which may 
be easily conceived, that what he had just said in jest 
was true in reality, little thinking, however, that all 
his dreams, all his anticipations of a beloved brother's 
increasing fame and prosperity would that day week, 
one short week, be entombed 

"Where Niagara stuns with tliund'ring sound." 

The unfortunate General Hull, on his return to the 
United States, was tried by a court martial and con- 
demned to death ; but the sentence was remitted by 
the president, in consideration of his age and services 
during the war of independence.* His name was, 
however, struck off the rolls of the army. His son, 
and aid-de-camp at Detroit, Captain Hull, was killed 
in July, 1814, in the hard-fought battle near the falls 
of Niagara. 

The successful commander, in transmitting his dis- 
patches to the governor-general at Montreal, expressed 
his intention of proceeding immediately with his gal- 
lant little army to Kingston, and from thence to the 
attack of the naval arsenal at Sackett's Harbour, 
on Lake Ontario. Had its destruction been accom- 
plished, — and no one can doubt that this was the 
proper period to attempt it, as the enemy, dispirited 
by the capture of Detroit, would probably have offered 

* For his revolutionary services, see Appendix A, Section 2. 



MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 15 

but a feeble resistance, — the Americans could not, 
without much additional difficulty, have built and 
equipped the fleets, which subsequently gave them 
the naval ascendency on those waters. But unhap- 
pily for the interests of his country and for the 
credit of his own fame, Sir George Prevost, whose 
civil administration was as able as his military one in 
Canada was inefficient, disapproved of the contem- 
plated enterprise, and commanded Major-General 
Brock to remain on the Niagara frontier. We seek not 
to impugn his motives, as they doubtless originated 
in a sense of duty, however mistaken, and evidently 
from an impression that to attack the Americans again 
on their own territory would be to render the contest 
more popular among them.* Forbearance in war, 
when success is probable, is a positive evil that a very 
doubtful good may ensue, — it is seldom properly 
appreciated ; and the governor-general appears to 
have seen his error when too late, as in the following 
year he was himself somewhat ignobly foiled in an 
attack on Sackett's Harbour. At the same time it is 
due to the memory of this unfortunate officer to add, 
that although his conduct on two or three occasions 
was the subject of much and just animadversion in 
England, yet he acquired the attachment of the French 
Canadians, who speak highly of him to this day. 
Certain it is, on the other hand, that Major-General 
Brock, thus frustrated in his intention and restricted 
to defensive warfare, felt the disappointment most 
acutely ; and subsequent events too truly proved that 
had he been permitted to pursue that course which his 
zeal and foresight dictated, his valuable life might 
have been spared, and a very different series of inci- 

* Appendix A, Section 1, No. 2. 



16 MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

dents in that war claimed the attention of the historian. 
The high-minded soldier could not brook a state of 
inaction with such promising prospects before him. 
His best feelings revolted at being compelled to lan- 
guish within the strict pale of military obedience, 
when so rich a field for doing good service presented 
itself; and in place of becoming the assailant, he was 
soon doomed, by awaiting the attacks of his oppo- 
nents, to sacrifice not only life, but, what is far dearer, 
the opening prospects of honorable ambition. 

The Americans, burning to wipe away the stain of 
their recent discomfiture, and apparently determined 
to penetrate into Upper Canada at any risk, concen- 
trated with those views, along the Niagara river, an 
army, by their own account, of about six thousand 
men, partly militia, under the command of Major- 
General Van Renssalaer. To oppose this force Major- 
General Brock, whose head quarters were at Fort 
George, had under his immediate orders part of 
the 41st and 49th regiments, a few companies of 
militia, and from two to three hundred Indians, in all 
about fifteen hundred men, but so dispersed in different 
posts at and between Fort Erie and Fort George,* 
(thirty-four miles apart,) that only a small number 
was quickly available at any one point. Under these 
circumstances it was impossible to prevent the landing 
of the hostile troops when favored by the obscurity of 
the night ; they crossed over from Lewistown in a 
considerable body before daybreak, on the 13th of 
October, and after some loss, gained possession of the 
shore near Queenston, a pretty village, seven miles 
from Fort George. The cataract of Niagara is sup- 

* On the opposite or American shore stands Fort Niagara, which, while in 
the hands of the French, was the scene of so many conflicts. The 49th regi- 
ment assisted at the reduction of this fort, in July, 1759 ! 



MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 17 

posed to have commenced on the adjacent heights, 
and to have gradually receded, or worn its way back- 
wards to its present site seven miles above, the banks 
of the river on both sides between the two spots being 
precipitous, chiefly of solid rock, and of the same 
height as the fall. For some days the British com- 
mander suspected that the enemy meditated an attack, 
and the evening previously he called his staff together, 
and gave to each the necessary instructions. Agree- 
ably to his usual custom he arose before daylight, 
and, hearing the report of cannon and musketry, 
directed Major- General Sheaffe to bring up the troops 
as soon as they were assembled. He then galloped 
eagerly from Fort George to the scene of action, and, 
on his arrival there at a quarter before seven, found 
the flank companies only of the 49th regiment, with 
a few of the militia, warmly engaged with the enemy. 
The light company, under Captain Williams, was on 
the road leading up the heights watching the enemy 
below, and the grenadiers, under Captain Dennis, the 
senior officer, were guarding the village and covering 
two three pounders, whose fire swept the banks of 
the river. The general rode up the hill in front of 
the light company under a tremendous fire of artillery 
and musketry from the American shore. Soon after 
the enemy gained possession, by a fisherman's path- 
way, of the summit of the heights, and the light 
company was compelled, by dint of numbers, to 
retreat slowly down the hill into the village of Queen- 
ston, where they formed across a street, while the 
grenadiers came up with the three pounders, and 
formed on the right of the enemy. Sir Isaac Brock, 
observing the Americans to waver, ordered a charge, 
which he personally accompanied, but, as they gave 



18 MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

way, the result was not equal to his expectations, 
Retreating on their main body, the whole opened a 
heavy fire of musketry ; and conspicuous from his 
dress, his height, and the enthusiasm with which he 
animated his little band, the British commander was 
soon singled out by their riflemen, whose celebrity for 
unerring aim was never more cruelly justified. While 
within pistol shot of the American lines, about an 
hour after his arrival, the fatal bullet entered his right 
breast, and passed through his left side. He li T ed 
only long enough to utter this dying exhortation ; 
"My fall must not be noticed, or impede my brave 
companions from advancing to victory I" and then to 
express a wish that some token of remembrance, 
which could not be distinctly understood, should be 
transmitted to his sister. On the same day, a week 
previously, he had completed his forty-third year. 
The lifeless corpse was immediately conveyed into a 
house at Queenston, where it remained until the 
afternoon unperceived by the enemy. His provincial 
aid-de-camp, Lieut. -Colonel M'Donell, of the militia, 
a fine promising young man, and the attorney-general 
of Upper Canada, was mortally wounded nearly at the 
same instant as his chief, and died the next day at 
the early age of twenty-four. Although one ball had 
passed through his body, and he was wounded in four 
places, yet he survived twenty hours, and, during a 
period of excruciating agony, his words and thoughts 
were constantly occupied with lamentations for his 
deceased commander and friend. 

The flank companies having suffered considerably, 
and both their captains being severely wounded, the 
disputed ground was lost soon after the fall of the 
general. The Americans remained in quiet possession 



MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 19 

of the heights and village of Queenston for some 
hours, during which they were but partially reinforced, 
as their militia could not be induced, either by threat 
or entreaty, to cross the river. In the mean while 
Major-General Sheaffe* collected a force from Fort 
George and Chippewa, and in the afternoon com- 
menced an attack on the enemy. The British, now 
equal in number, and superior in discipline, easily 
drove the invaders from their position at the point of 
the bayonet. Pressed to the edge of the precipice 
which overhangs the river, they fought with despe- 
ration for a moment, but quickly discovering that 
resistance was hopeless, the greater part threw down 
their arms, and called for quarter. Of those who 
attempted to escape into the woods, some were soon 
driven back by the Indians ; while others, cut off in 
their return to the main body, and terrified at the 
sight of these exasperated warriors, flung themselves 
wildly over the cliffs, and endeavoured to cling to 
the bushes which grew upon them, but many, losing 
their hold, were dashed frightfully on the rocks 
beneath ; and several who reached the river perished 
in their attempts to swim across it. Such, alas, are 
the dreadful horrors too often arising from human 
warfare ! Few returned to tell the tale of their 
disaster, and upwards of nine hundred men, with 
their commander, Brigadier- General Wadsworth, re- 
mained as prisoners. The death of the British 
general is said to have cost the invaders many a 
life on that day which otherwise had been spared. 
The detachment of the 49th above all, in the excite- 

* This officer was made a baronet after the battle of Queenston ; he is a 
native of New England, and was succeeded in 1813, in the command of Upper 
Canada, by Major-General De Rottenburgh, a German, we believe, who was 
in his turn soon superseded by Lieut.-General (now Sir Gordon) Drummond. 



20 MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

merit arising from the loss of their late beloved 
colonel, fought with such animosity that the few 
Americans, who escaped to their own shore, described 
them to their companions as the "green tigers," 
from their green facings ; and the fame of their 
desperate prowess, on this occasion, was long re- 
membered by the enemy's invading army. But the 
success, though complete, was felt by the victors as 
a poor compensation for the fate of the British chief- 
tain, thus prematurely cut off in the midst of his 
career ; and the sorrow manifested throughout both 
provinces proved that those who rejoiced in the result 
of this second invasion would gladly have foregone 
the triumph, if by such means they could have 
regained him who rendered the heights of Queenston 
memorable by his fall. 

"The news of the death of this excellent officer 
(observed the Quebec Gazette) has been received 
here as a public calamity. The attendant circum- 
stances of victory scarcely checked the painful sen- 
sation. His long residence in this province, and 
particularly in this place, had made him in habits 
and good offices almost a citizen ; and his frankness, 
conciliatory disposition, and elevated demeanour, an 
estimable one. The expressions of regret as general 
as he was known, and not uttered by friends and 
acquaintance only, but by every gradation of class, 
not only by grown persons, but young children, are 
the test of his worth. Such too is the only eulogium 
worthy of the good and brave, and the citizens of 
Quebec have, with solemn emotions, pronounced it 
on his memory. But at this anxious moment other 
feelings are excited by his loss. General Brock had 
acquired the confidence of the inhabitants within 



MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 2\ 

his government. He had secured their attachment 
permanently by his own merits. They were one 
people animated by one disposition, and this he 
had gradually wound up to the crisis in which they 
were placed. Strange as it may seem, it is to be 
feared that he had become too important to them. 
The heroic militia of Upper Canada, more particularly, 
had knit themselves to his person ; and it is yet to be 
ascertained whether the desire to avenge his death 
can compensate the many embarrassments it will 
occasion." A Montreal newspaper of the day also 
contained the following observations : ' ' The private 
letters from Upper Canada, in giving the account of 
the late victory at Queenston, are partly taken up 
with encomiastic lamentations upon the never-to-be- 
forgotten General Brock, which do honor to the 
character and talents of the man they deplore. The 
enemy have nothing to hope from the loss they have 
inflicted ; they have created a hatred which panteth 
for revenge. Although General Brock may be said 
to have fallen in the midst of his career, yet his 
previous services in Upper Canada will be lasting and 
highly beneficial. When he assumed the government 
of the province he found a divided, disaffected, and, 
of course, a weak people. He has left them united 
and strong, and the universal sorrow of the Province 
attends his fall. The father, to his children, will 
make known the mournful story. The veteran, who 
fought by his side in the heat and burthen of the day 
of our deliverance, will venerate his name." And 
the sentiments of the British government, on the 
melancholy occasion, were thus expressed in a dis- 
patch from Earl Bathurst, the secretary of state for 
the colonies, to Sir George Prevost : — "His Royal 



22 MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

Highness the Prince Regent is fully aware of the 
severe loss which his Majesty's service has expe- 
rienced in the death of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock. 
This would have been sufficient to have clouded a 
victory of much greater importance. His Majesty 
has lost in him not only an able and meritorious 
officer, but one who, in the exercise of his functions 
of provisional lieutenant-governor of the province, 
displayed qualities admirably adapted to awe the 
disloyal, to reconcile ths wavering, and to animate 
the great mass of the inhabitants against successive 
attempts of the enemy to invade the province, in the 
last of which he unhappily fell, too prodigal of that 
life of which his eminent services had taught us to 
understand the value." 

The Canadian boat songs are well known for their 
plaintive and soothing effect, and a very beautiful one 
was composed on the death of Major- General Brock. 
The writer of this memoir, while sailing one evening 
in the straits of Canso, in British North America, the 
beautiful and picturesque scenery of which greatly 
increased the effect of the words, remembers to have 
heard it sung by a Canadian boatman, and he then 
thought that he had never listened to vocal sounds 
more truly descriptive of melancholy and regret. 

Sir Isaac Brock, after lying in state at the govern- 
ment house, where his body was bedewed with the 
tears of many affectionate friends, was interred, with 
every military honor, at Fort George, in a cavalier 
bastion, which he had suggested, and which had been 
just finished under his daily superintendence. His 
surviving aid-de-camp, Major J. B. Glegg, at the 
same time recollecting the decided aversion of the 
general to every thing that bore the appearance of 



MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 23 

ostentatious display, endeavoured to clothe the dis- 
tressing ceremony with all his native simplicity. 
Such was the esteem in which he was held by the 
enemies of his country, for he had or could have no 
personal enemies, that Major-General Van Renssalaer, 
in a letter of condolence, informed Major-General 
Sheaffe that immediately after the funeral solemnities 
were over on the British side, a compliment of minute 
guns would be paid to his memory on theirs ! ! ! Ac- 
cordingly, the cannon at Fort Niagara were fired, 
"asa mark of respect due to a brave enemy." How 
much is it then to be regretted that we should ever 
come into collision with those who possess the same 
origin and the same language as ourselves, and who, 
by this generous feeling and conduct, proved that 
they are a liberal, as they undoubtedly are a gallant, 
people ; and may the future rivalry of both powers 
be, not for the unnatural destruction of each other, 
but for the benefit of mankind.* No words can bet- 
ter express the favorable opinion entertained by the 
Americans of the deceased than the language of their 
president, Madison, who, alluding to the battle of 
Queenston in his annual message to congress, ob- 
served : " Our loss has been considerable, and is 
deeply to be lamented. That of the enemy, less 
ascertained, will be the more felt, as it includes 
amongst the killed the commanding general, who was 
also the governor of the province." 

Nature had been very bountiful to Sir Isaac Brock 

* The Americans have been frequently traduced for declaring war with 
Great Britain when the greater part of Europe was arrayed against her, but 
we must admit, in common candour, that they had received many provo- 
cations ; their citizens had been impressed, their ships captured, their 
commerce restrained, and, above all, their coasts had been iusulted ; and 
national warfare has yet to be waged on more generous principles, if the 
aggressed await the convenience of the aggressor. 



24 MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

in those personal gifts which appear to such peculiar 
advantage in the army, and at the first glance the 
soldier and the gentleman were seen. In stature he 
was tall, erect, athletic, and well proportioned, although 
in his latter years his figure was perhaps too portly ; 
and when a young man, at the head of his company 
of grenadiers, he attracted general observation by his 
martial presence. His fine and benevolent counte- 
nance was a perfect index of his mind, and his 
manners were courteous, frank, and engaging. His 
character has already been so fully developed in the 
preceding pages that it may appear superfluous to 
add a brief sketch of its more prominent features. 
Brave, liberal, and humane ; devoted to his sovereign, 
and loving his country with romantic fondness ; in 
command so gentle and persuasive, yet so firm, that 
he possessed the rare faculty of acquiring both the 
respect and the attachment of all who served under 
him. When urged by some friends, shortly before 
his death, to be more careful of his person, he replied : 
" How can I expect my men to go where I am afraid 
to lead them ;" and although perhaps his anxiety 
ever to shew a good example, by being foremost in 
danger, induced him to expose himself more than 
strict prudence or formality warranted, yet, if he 
erred on this point, his error was that of a soldier. 
Elevated to the government of Upper Canada, he 
reclaimed the disaffected by mildness, and fixed the 
wavering by argument ; and having no national par- 
tialities to gratify, that rock on which so many 
provincial governors have split, he meted equal favor 
and justice to all. British born subjects soon felt 
convinced that with him their religion or their birth 
place was no obstacle to their advancement. Even 



MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 25 

over the minds of the Indians Sir Isaac Brock gained 
an ascendancy altogether unexampled, and which he 
judiciously exercised for purposes conducive equally 
to the cause of humanity and to the interests of his 
country. He engaged them to throw aside the scalp- 
ing knife, implanted in their breasts the virtues of 
clemency and forbearance, and taught them to feel 
pleasure and pride in the compassion extended to a 
vanquished enemy. In return they revered him as 
their common father, and whilst he lived were guilty 
of no excesses. It is well known that this untutored 
people, the children of the forests, value personal much 
more highly than mental qualities, but the union 
of both in their leader was happily calculated to im- 
press their haughty and masculine minds with respect 
and admiration ; and the speech delivered, after the 
capture of Detroit, by the celebrated Te-cum-seh, # 
who also fell during the war, is illustrative of the 
sentiments with which he had inspired these warlike 
tribes. " I have heard," observed that chief to him, 
" much of your fame, and am happy to shake by the 
hand a brave brother warrior. The Americans endea- 
vour to give us a mean opinion of British generals, 
but we have been the witnesses of your valour. In 
crossing the river to attack the enemy, we observed 
you from a distance standing the whole time in an 
erect posture, and, when the boats reached the shore, 
you were among the first who jumped on land. Your 
bold and sudden movements frightened the enemy, 
and you compelled them to surrender to half their 
own force." 

Of all the good qualities which adorned this accom- 
plished soldier none was more prominent than his 

* For a narrative of his life, &c, see conclusion of Appendix. 



26 MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

decision, and it was ever under the guidance of a 
sound judgment. His strong attachment to the ser- 
vice, and particularly to his regiment, formed another 
distinguishing feature in his character. There was a 
correspondence of regard between him and his officers, 
and even the non-commissioned officers and privates, 
that produced the picture of a happy family. Those 
extremities of punishment, which the exactions of 
discipline will sometimes occasion, rarely reached his 
men. He governed them by that sentiment of esteem 
which he himself had created, and the consolation 
was given him to terminate a brief but brilliant course 
in the midst of his professional family. They per- 
formed his last obsequies, and those who knew the 
commander and his men will be convinced that on 
the day of his funeral there was an entire detachment 
in tears. 

It deserves to be recorded, as an instance of good 
fortune, unprecedented perhaps in military annals, 
and especially in a country where the advantage and 
facility of escape were so great, that from the 5th of 
August, the day on which Major-General Brock left 
York for Detroit, to the period immediately preceding 
the battle of Queenston, the force under his personal 
command suffered no diminution in its numbers either 
by desertion, natural death, or the sword. This com- 
prehended a period of nearly ten weeks, during which 
an army was captured, and a journey of several 
hundred miles, by land and water, accomplished with 
extreme rapidity. 

In conclusion it is due to the memory of this excel- 
lent man to declare that, eminent and undisputed as 
were his public virtues, he was no less estimable in 
private life. In his own family he was the object of 



MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 27 

the warmest affection, and his servants carefully pre- 
served relics of their dear master, as they style him 
to this day. His cares and anxieties had no reference 
to the wealth he should amass, but to the sum of 
human misery he might relieve ; and towards the 
close of his brief career, as the prospect of increasing 
honors and emoluments opened to his view, he con- 
templated his good fortune only as the means of 
diffusing felicity, of drying the tear of affliction. 
Indeed so totally devoid was he of every mercenary 
consideration, that although he enjoyed an ample 
income from his appointments, by which he might 
have been enriched, or at least repaid for the purchase 
of his commissions, yet he left literally nothing but 
his fair name behind him. Some of his nearest rela- 
tives have since been cut off more prematurely, and 
far more cruelly than himself; but those who still 
survive him possess the never -failing consolation 
which arises from the remembrance of his virtues, 
and from the reflection that, though his blessed spirit 
hath fled for ever from this world, they may meet 
again in the mansions of futurity. 

Though the dead heed not human praise, yet the 
living act wisely in commemorating the fall of a 
distinguished chief, — the example is never thrown 
away, — and on this occasion it is gratifying to reflect, 
that every posthumous honor was paid to the memory 
of one who had merited the distinction so well. A 
public monument, having been decreed by the impe- 
rial parliament, was raised a few years since in St. 
Paul's, and a view of it is said to have awakened in 
an astonished Indian more surprise and admiration 
than any thing he witnessed in England.* To " the 

* Appendix A, Section 1, No. 11. 



28 MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

hero of Upper Canada," as he is still termed in that 
country, the provincial legislature has recently erected 
a lofty column on Queenston heights, to which his 
remains, and those of his gallant aid-de-camp, were 
removed from Fort George in solemn procession, on 
the 13th of October, 1824. # Although twelve years 
had elapsed since the interment, the body of the 
general had undergone little change, his features being 
nearly perfect and easily recognised, while that of 
Lieut. -Colonel M'Donell w r as in a complete mass of 
decomposition. One of his regimental companions, 
Colonel Fitzgibbon, in transmitting a detail of the 
ceremonies of the day, thus pathetically expressed 
himself: " Nothing, certainly, could exceed the inte- 
rest manifested by the people of the province upon 
the occasion ; and numbers from the neighbouring 
state of New York, by their presence and conduct, 
proved how highly the Americans revere the memory 
of our lamented chief. Of the thousands present not 
one had cause to feel so deeply as I, and I felt as if 
alone, although surrounded by the multitude. He 
had been more than a father to me in that regiment 
which he ruled like a father, and I alone of his old 
friends in that regiment was present to embalm with 
a tear his last honored retreat. What I witnessed 
on this day would have fully confirmed me in the 
opinion, had confirmation been wanting, that the 
public feeling in this province has been permanently 
improved and elevated by Sir Isaac Brock's conduct 
and actions while governing its inhabitants. These, 
together with his dying in their defence, have done 

* A munificent grant of twelve thousand acres of land in Upper Canada 
was also bestowed by the Provincial Legislature on Sir Isaac Brock's four 
surviving brothers, who in addition were allowed a pension for life of Two 
Hundred Pounds a year each, by a vote of the British Parliament. 



MEMOIR OF SIR ISAAC BROCK. 29 

more towards cementing our union with the mother 
country than any event or circumstance since the 
existence of the province. Of this our leading men 
are aware, and are careful to seize every opportunity 
of preserving recollections so productive of good 
effects." The height of the column, which commands 
a view of the surrounding country for about fifty 
miles, is from the base to the summit one hundred 
and twenty-seven feet, and from the level of the 
Niagara river, which runs nearly under it, four hun- 
dred and seventy-seven feet. The following inscription 
is engraven on this splendid tribute to the unfading 
remembrance of a grateful people : — 

UPPER CANADA 

HAS DEDICATED THIS MONUMENT 

TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE 

MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ISAAC BROCK, K. B. 

PROVISIONAL LIEUT.-GOVERNOR AND COMMANDER OF THE FORCES 

IN THIS PROVINCE, 

"WHOSE REMAINS ARE DEPOSITED IN THE VAULT BENEATH. 

OPPOSING THE INVADING ENEMY, 

HE FELL IN ACTION NEAR THESE HEIGHTS, 

ON THE 13th OCTOBER, 1812, 

IN THE 43rd YEAR OF HIS AGE, 

REVERED AND LAMENTED 

BY THE PEOPLE WHOM HE GOVERNED, 

AND DEPLORED BY THE SOVEREIGN 

TO WHOSE SERVICE HIS LIFE HAD BEEN DEVOTED. 



February, 1832. 



MEMOIR 

OF 

THE LATE 

LIEUT. E. W. TUPPER, of H. M. S. SYBILLE. 



By deadly sufferings now no more oppress'd, 

Mount, dear William, to thy destin'd rest : 

While I, — reversed our nature's kindlier doom, — 

Pour forth a brother's sorrows on thy tomb. Paraphrase. 



The subject of this memoir, the third son of John E. 
Tupper, Esq., by his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of 
John Brock, Esq., was born in the island of Guernsey. 
Having received the rudiments of his education at 
Harrow, where, although so young, he was remarked 
for an ardent love of reading, united to a very reten- 
tive memory, he commenced his naval career in the 
Victory, of 110 guns, under the care and patronage 
of the present Lord De Saumarez, with whom he 
continued in the Baltic until he struck his flag. 
Being sent occasionally to serve in smaller vessels for 
the greater facility of acquiring practical seamanship, 
he in one instance narrowly escaped a watery grave, 
the Bellette, 18-gun brig, being lost with all her crew, 
excepting five, the cruise after he left her to rejoin 
;the flag ship. Having wintered on that station in 
1812 in the Ranger, of 28 guns, Captain Acklom, he 
was employed in that ship early the following spring, 
in the reduction of Dantzic, then occupied by a 



32 MEMOIR OF LIEUT. TUPPER. 

French garrison. He served on the American coast, 
during the latter part of the war, in the Asia, 74, and 
was present at the disastrous attack of New Orleans, 
on the 8th of January, 1815, forming one of a party 
under Captain Rowland Money, landed from the fleet 
to co-operate with the army. On the night of the 
storm, this party, in conjunction with the 85th Light 
Infantry, under Colonel Thornton, attacked some 
fortitied works on the right bank of the Mississippi, 
and were completely successful after sustaining a tri- 
fling loss, but the failure of the main assault rendered 
this success unavailing. The cannon on these out- 
works appear to have enfiladed the principal defences 
on the left bank of the river, the attempt to carry 
which cost the army so many men ; and had the 
main assault been deferred until these guns could be 
turned against the garrison, the city would probably 
have been captured. In the same year he joined the 
flag ship of Sir Thomas Fremantle, who, having been 
an intimate friend of his late uncle, Sir Isaac Brock, 
kindly assured him of his influence and support ; but 
ere he had attained the requisite age for promotion, 
peace took place and blighted all the bright prospects 
with which he entered the service. In November, 
1817, on his return in the Active frigate, Captain 
Philip Carteret,* from the Jamaica station, he passed 
at the Naval College at Portsmouth, and was one of 
four midshipmen complimented as having undergone 
a superior examination. In 1823 he was appointed 
to the Revenge, 76, Sir Harry Neale's flag ship in 
the Mediterranean, and took a passage to join her in 
the Sybille, of 48 guns. Captain Yorke,f command- 

* The late Sir Philip Carteret Sylvester, Bart, and C. B. 
t The present Earl of Hardwicke. 



MEMOIR OF LIEUT. TUPPER. 33 

ing the Alacrity brig, having applied to Captain 
Pechell, on the voyage from Gibraltar to Malta, for an 
officer capable of taking charge of a watch, Mr. Tupper 
was selected for that purpose. Captain Yorke wished 
him to remain on board the brig, but he preferred 
joining the flag ship, and a flattering testimonial of 
Captain Yorke's approbation was found among his 
papers, when received in Guernsey after his decease. 
I Being placed on the admiralty list for advancement, 
through the interest of a relative residing in London, 
he was, while at Smyrna, promoted from the Revenge 
into the Seringapatam frigate ; but Captain Pechell * 
was so satisfied with his conduct, during the short 
period he was under his orders, that he prevailed 
upon the admiral to transfer him to the Sybille, and 
Lieutenant Tupper, as gladly as unfortunately for 
himself, joined the latter ship, which was distinguished 
on the station for superior gunnery and discipline. 
She was what is termed "a crack frigate;" her 
commander was not only a scientific, but an expe- 
rienced and zealous officer ; and young men of the first 
families and interest were then serving under him.f 

The Sybille was at Alexandria, on her way from 
Malta to the coast of Syria, when intelligence was 
received by Mr. Salt, the well known oriental traveller 
and the British consul general in Egypt, of the plun- 
der of a Maltese and a Sardinian vessel by a strong 
party of Greek pirates, who had taken possession of a 
small barren island on the southern coast of Candia, 
and whose treatment of both the crews had been 
attended with circumstances of great atrocity. Cap- 

* Captain Pechell, C. B., succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his 
father, the 18th June, 1826, on which day the rencontre at Candia took place. 

t Some mention is made of the Sybille, her captain, and the attack of the 
pirates at Candia in Whychcotte of St. John's. — Vide Appendix B, No. 3. 

C 



34 MEMOIR OF LIEUT. TUPPER. 

tain Pechell set sail immediately in pursuit of these 
lawless and desperate men. On Saturday the 17th 
of June, 1826,* being near Gozo, the boats were 
dispatched to destroy some small vessels hauled up 
on the beach, but, as a heavy surf was breaking there, 
the crews could not land, and they coasted along, 
followed by the frigate and by a large party of armed 
Greeks, who anxiously watched their motions from 
the shore, offering them, however, no molestation, 
although within musket shot. In the evening the 
boats were recalled, having been unable to effect a 
landing. The ship stood off and on the coast of 
Candia during the night, and early the following 
morning two misticoes were observed under sail 
standing towards her. On perceiving their mistake 
they immediately made for the land, and, while in 
chase of them, a rocky islet was unexpectedly disco- 
vered under Cape Matala, on which were seen armed 
men, the crews of three or four piratical misticoes, 
which were secured to the rocks in a narrow creek, 
called, by the English, Good Harbour, formed by the 
islet and the main land of Candia. This island, the 
Crete of the ancients, and the theatre of so much 
contention and bloodshed in modern times, was in 
possession of the Turks, some of whom were seen 
from the Sybille, and were equally dreaded by the 
Greeks, whose retreat to the main, had they been so 
inclined, was thus effectually cut off Candia rises 
pre-eminently above the multitude of isles which 
overspread the Egean, and the snowy tops of Mount 
Ida are seen distinctly at sea from a distance of thirty 

* Exactly thirty-two years after the Sybille was captured from the French 
in the Greek Archipelago, and fifty-one years after the attack of Bunker's 
Hill, in which Lieutenant Tupper's great uncle, Major, afterwards Major* 
General, Tupper, commanded a battalion of marines. 



MEMOIR OF LIEUT. TUPPER. 35 

miles. But of the hundred flourishing cities, which 
it once contained, scarcely a vestige, with two or 
three exceptions, now remains, so complete has been 
the destruction brought on by war and Ottoman 
barbarism. One of the misticoes ran into the creek, 
and was followed by the frigate ; the other, finding 
she could not reach the island without risk of capture, 
bore up and escaped to leeward. On the approach 
of the Sybille, Sir John Pechell was informed by the 
mate of a Greek schooner, which was coming out of 
the creek, that the position of the pirates was too 
strong to be attacked with boats only, and that they 
were determined to defend their vessels to the last 
extremity. Their position was indeed well chosen, 
the islet being exceedingly rocky and precipitous, and 
from two to three hundred armed men awaited the 
attack under cover of the rocks and artificial stone 
breast works on the summit, which completely com- 
manded the creek. From this their " point d'appui" 
they could espy and pounce upon any unfortunate 
merchant vessel which approached the coast, and 
when disengaged, they occasionally sallied forth and 
committed depredations on the neighbouring Turkish 
villages. It will soon be seen how resolutely they 
defended themselves, and how much of the spirit of 
ancient Greece they exhibited on this unfortunate 
occasion. The suppression of piracy by British ships 
of war had hitherto been attended with little loss, 
being confined to the Greeks of the Morea and 
Cyclades, not remarkable for courage ; and although 
the Candiotes of either religion have always been 
noted as the most daring and ferocious of the Sultan's 
subjects, there was on this occasion, with so great a 
disparity of force, no cause to apprehend so serious 






36 ( MEMOIR OF LIEUT. TUPPER. 

and so successful a resistance. Captain Pechell, hav- 
ing ascertained that the ship could be taken in, cast 
anchor, with the boats in tow, at about noon in the 
mouth of the creek ; and before the broadside could 
be brought to bear by means of a spring on the cable, 
Lieutenant Gordon impetuously dashed forward in 
the barge with the view of boarding a mistico, which 
was endeavouring to escape by the weather channel. 
The captain intended that the boats should wait until 
the frigate was ready to co-operate with them, and 
he immediately recalled Lieutenant Gordon, but the 
latter was either too eager to attack, or did not hear 
the order ; and Lieutenant Tupper and the remaining 
officers, who were still within hail of the ship, were 
thus left in doubt as to the course they should pursue. 
The other boats, however, quickly followed to sup- 
port the barge, whose crew alone boarded and carried 
the mistico ; but Lieutenant Gordon, Midshipman 
Edmonstone, and every man, excepting one, being 
killed or wounded, they were compelled to abandon 
her, and aided by a light breeze off the shore, the 
barge fortunately drifted out, and was towed on board 
by the launch, Lieutenant Tupper pressing forward 
to her assistance, although he was by this time him- 
self desperately wounded. The boats, six in number, 
having been exposed to a most murderous fire for 
about a quarter of an hour, on returning to the 
Sybille, presented, particularly the barge, the melan- 
choly spectacle of a heap of dead and dying. Mid- 
shipman J. M. Knox and twelve men were killed ; 
Lieutenant Edward Gordon, dangerously ; Lieutenant 
Tupper, mortally ; Midshipman William Edmonstone* 

* A younger son of the late Sir Charles Edmonstone, Bart., and grandson 
of Lord Hothain. 



MEMOIR OF LIEUT. TUPPER. 37 

and Robert Lees,* both very severely; and twenty- 
seven men wounded, of whom five died in a few days. 
Mr. Knox, who was shot dead in the second cutter, 
had, on a former occasion with the Greek bandits, 
manifested much coolness and courage when unex- 
pectedly encountered by them with his boat's crew on 
shore. Mr. Edmonstone, another fine and gallant 
young man of sixteen, and the only midshipman in 
the barge, was dreadfully wounded in the chin, the 
bullet carrying away several of his teeth ; and a ball is 
said to have pierced the shoulder of Mr. Lees, who 
was in the first cutter, and to have killed the coxswain 
behind him. Lieutenants Gordon and Tupper were 
the first and third of the ship, and the only officers of 
that rank in the boats. The day of the attack was 
the sabbath, and on the same day of the week and 
month, eleven years previously, was fought the battle 
of Waterloo. Sir John Pechell now resolved to inflict 
summary punishment for the slaughter of so many of 
his crew ; two of the misticoes were quickly sunk, 
and many of the pirates, who for a little time kept 
up a brisk fusilade on the ship, were killed and 
wounded by the frigate's guns, their dead bodies and 
muskets being every wdiere strewed among the rocks. 
Their fire being silenced, they crowded towards their 
boats, and attempted to escape by the weather channel ; 
but as soon as the headmost boat became exposed to 
the ship's guns, a well-directed fire of grape and 
canister left her neither rower nor helmsman, and she 
fell off towards the shore and sank in shallow water. 
But humanity to one of her own crew at length 
caused a cessation of the firing from the Sybille. A 
marine, according to his own account, while in the 

* A nephew of Sir Harconrt Lees, Bart. 






38 MEMOIR OF LIEUT. TUPPER. 

act of cutting the cable of the mistico boarded from 
the barge, was thrown on the rocks and stunned by 
the violence of the shock. On coming to his senses 
he found himself alone in a cave, and immediately 
ran down towards the ship, from whence he was 
recognised by his scarlet jacket, although intermingled 
with the Greeks, who, when the firing ceased, brought 
him to a projecting rock, and offered to restore him 
unhurt if the attack were discontinued. There was 
no alternative without the sacrifice of this man's life, 
and the Sybille, having received him on board, weighed 
anchor from this ill-fated spot, and immediately re- 
turned to Malta to land her wounded. Great anxiety 
was at first entertained for Lieutenant Gordon, two 
balls having passed through, and a third lodged in, 
his body, and being an excellent officer, he was highly 
beloved by the whole ship's company. He was then, 
unknown to himself, a commander, having been 
promoted by the admiralty fifteen days before this 
sanguinary affair, for his previous zeal and gallantry. 
Although the pirates, behind their breastworks, de- 
fended themselves in comparative security, yet, in 
justice to them it should be added, that their chief 
headed a party which was bold enough to come down 
to the water's edge and to fire upon the Sybille, so as 
to prevent her men putting a spring on the cable, 
the effect of which they well understood. Here the 
daring chief fell, and his followers were distinctly 
seen from the frigate to divest the corse of its ill-gotten 
spoils. Their total loss was not clearly ascertained, 
but nearly eighty are reported to have been slain, and 
the remainder, being able to equip only one of their 
vessels, subsequently set forth to commit other depre- 
dations. They were pursued by a Turkish brig of 



MEMOIR OF LIEUT. TUPPER. 39 

war, and driven on shore on the coast of Anatolia, 
whence they escaped into the mountains. Thus this 
piratical establishment was finally abandoned, and it 
is deeply to be regretted that its attack by the Sybille 
should have been attended with such a lamentable 
loss of life on both sides. Sir John Pechell could 
not, in the performance of his duty, act otherwise ; 
but as long as the unjust and cruel system of promo- 
tion prevails in the navy, by which during peace no 
officer, however deserving, without powerful interest 
or extreme good fortune, can hope to be advanced in 
the usual course of service, many brave men will be 
unnecessarily exposed and sacrificed, as they undoubt- 
edly were on this occasion. We blame not Lieutenant 
Gordon, — his intrepidity and sufferings excite our 
admiration and sympathy, but we should be devoid 
of the common feelings of humanity if we did not 
execrate that system, of which he also was the victim. 
In this attack Lieutenant Tupper commanded the 
launch, and, although severely wounded in three 
places, he stood up the whole time, and retained the 
command of her until she returned to the ship. The 
bullet, which proved fatal, entered his right breast, 
and, passing obliquely downwards and backwards, 
was extracted from under the skin over the false ribs. 
Having gone into action with his coat and epaulette 
on, it is probable that he was more particularly aimed 
at, # as the four midshipmen, Mr. H. M. E. Allen, 
the Honorable Frederick Pelham,f Mr. Robert Spencer 
Robinson,| and the Honorable Edward Plunkett,§ 

* A Greek is a soldier by nature, — his sight is so keen that it surprises our 
most expert sportsmen. — Colonel Napier. 

t Second son of the Earl of Chichester. 

t Son of Sir John Robinson, Bart. ^ Son of Lord Dunsany. 

Among the midshipmen in the other boats were the present Captains Hon. 
E. G. Howard and H. G. Hamilton, and Lieutenant Hon. J. Denman. 



40 MEMOIR OF LIEUT. TUPPER. 

who were in the launch, escaped unhurt. After lin- 
gering for eight days, he breathed his last in a state 
of delirium on board the Sybille, at Malta, and passed 
from time to eternity totally unconscious of the awful 
change that was awaiting him. His remains were 
interred in the quarantine burial ground, where a 
monument was erected by his captain and messmates, 
with this inscription of their esteem and regard. 

TO THE MEMORY OF 

LIEUT. E. W. TUPPER, LATE H. M. S. SYBILLE, 

WHO DIED 2eth JUNE, 1826, 

FROM WOUNDS RECEIVED IN AN ATTACK AGAINST PIRATES. 

HE WILL LONG BE REGRETTED BY THOSE WHO KNEW HIM. 

It was placed between the tombs of Charles Locke, 
Esq., British consul general for Egypt, and Theodore 
Gatton, Esq., the only mementos of the living then 
seen throughout the cemetery to indicate that aught, 
which once breathed, was laid below. Captain Gordon 
and Mr. George Johnstone, the surgeon, in letters to 
the family in Guernsey, after their return to England, 
thus feelingly and eloquently expressed themselves. 
The former said : — 

" It will be some consolation to an afflicted family 
to learn that no one had been more esteemed, and 
none more regretted, by his captain, brother officers, 
and shipmates, than poor William. He was a good 
officer and an excellent seaman, and in whom Sir John 

Pechell had always the greatest reliance Your 

poor brother was too amiable and honorable a young 
man not to have possessed proper religious feelings. 
He bore his sufferings with fortitude, — during the 
six days previous to my being landed I never heard 
him complain, although I have little doubt he was 
conscious that his wounds were mortal." 



MEMOIR OF LIEUT. TUPPER. 41 

The surgeon wrote : — 
"When I first saw him he was firm and cool. He 
asked me to give my opinion without reserve, and 
knowing him to be possessed of great fortitude, I told 
him that the wound in the chest was of a most dan- 
gerous nature, but not necessarily fatal. He had by 
this time lost a great deal of blood, but the internal 
hemorrhage, though the most alarming, was slight. 
He remained so low for three days that it was ex- 
pected he would have sunk, though he still continued 
collected and firm. On the fourth day he rallied, his 
pulse became more distinct, and he evidently encou- 
raged hopes. Need I say that I felt myself incapable 
of destroying them, — indeed I was not altogether 
without hope myself. The principal danger was from 
hemorrhage upon the separation of the sloughs, and 
my fears were fatally verified, for on the 25th, at 
noon, it commenced and increased internally, until 
his lungs could no longer perform their functions, 
and he died at about three o'clock on the morning of 
the 26th. During the whole time he was resigned, 

evincing the greatest strength of mind As it 

was with unfeigned sorrow that I saw a fine and gal- 
lant young man fall a victim to such a cause, so it 
was with admiration that I witnessed his heroic bear- 
ing when the excitement was past, and hope itself 
was almost fled. I have seen many support their 
firmness amidst danger and death, but it belongs to 
few to sustain it during protracted suffering, which is 
indeed a trial often too severe for the bravest, but 
through which your lamented brother came with a 
spirit and resignation which reflected lustre upon 
himself and family, and endeared him to all his 
shipmates." 






42 MEMOIR OF LIEUT. TUPPER. 

The spot on which this desperate encounter took 
place is called, in modern Greek, Kaloslimionas, 
which, in English, signifies " The Fair Havens ;" and 
although its position does not exactly accord with 
that of the same name laid down in a recent scriptural 
chart of St. Paul's voyage, still, as the identity of the 
appellations is so remarkable, as the latitude corres- 
ponds, and as there is only a slight difference of 
longitude, it is very possible that the present Kalos- 
limionas is The Fair Havens mentioned in the twenty- 
seventh chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. 

" And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria, sailing 
into Italy, and he put us therein. 

"And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce 
were come over against Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we 
sailed under Crete, over against Salmone. 

" And, hardly passing it, came unto a place which is called 
The Fair Havens, nigh whereunto was the city of Lasea." 

That this promising young officer should have fallen 
by such hands was the more severely felt by his 
disconsolate family, because, a few months previously, 
some of its members had it in their power to be of 
service to the officers and crew of the Greek brig of 
war, Cimoni, wrecked on Alderney in November, 
1825. The commander, Captain Miaulis, son of the 
celebrated Greek admiral of that name, thus expressed 
his thanks in a letter on the subject to the Greek 
deputies in London. 

[TRANSLATION.] 

"Portsmouth, 1st January, 1826. — Being on the 
point of quitting England, I consider myself obliged 
by duty to express the sincere gratitude which I, my 
officers, and crew,* entertain towards the inhabitants 

* Each seaman, besides food and raiment during his stay, received £5 on 
his departure from the island. 



MEMOIR OF LIEUT. TUPPER. 43 

of Guernsey in general, and particularly towards the 
Lieutenant-Governor, Sir John Colborne, and the 
family of Mr. Tupper, resident in that island, for their 
most benevolent and generous conduct towards us. 

" If any thing can possibly alleviate the misfortunes 
of those who are shipwrecked on a foreign coast, far 
from their native country, unacquainted with the 
language of the people among whom chance has 
thrown them, it is the meeting with men of liberality 
and humanity. Such, we thank Heaven, has been 
our lot, and we can assure the inhabitants of Guernsey 
that, whilst we live, their conduct will remain inde- 
libly engraven on our hearts. 

"You will oblige me and my officers by giving 
publicity to this letter. Treatment, like that we met 
with, should not remain unrecorded." 

Of this crew very possibly some, urged by want 
and desperation, were among the pirates at Good 
Harbour, — one may have inflicted the fatal wound 
which deprived Lieutenant Tupper of his life, and if 
so, it is melancholy to reflect, as the orientals pathe- 
tically express it, that the arrow which pierced the 
eagle's heart was poised with an eagle's feather, — that 
a Greek, lately cherished in his victim's native isle, 

"gave the final blow, 
Or helped to plant the wound that laid him low. 
So the struck eagle, stretched upon the plain, 
No more through rolling clouds to soar again, 
Viewed his own feather on the fatal dart, 
And winged the shaft that quivered in his heart. 
Keen were his pangs, but keener far to feel 
He nursed the pinion which impelled the steel; 
While the same plumage that had warmed his nest, 
Drank the last life drop of his bleeding breast." 

Byron. 

In person Lieutenant Tupper was rather above the 
middle height, with a pleasing and intelligent counte- 



44 MEMOIR OF LIEUT. TUPPER. 

nance, and he and his next brother, Charles, when 
midshipmen in the Victory together, were designated 
on board as the handsome brothers.* His love of 
reading continued in its full force to the last, and as 
he possessed a very copious fund of information, 
particularly on naval subjects, he was often referred 
to on a disputed point. Cruelly cut off in the open- 
ing bud of manhood, when fortune seemed at length 
propitious, and life in consequence was become doubly 
dear to him, the only consolation left to his near rela- 
tives is, that he, unlike his brother De Vic, died in 
the service of his own country. He, who sketches 
this feeble tribute to his memory, was the elder com- 
panion of his childhood, and the friend of his later 
years ; and he still feels, from sad experience, how 
impossible it is to forget him, and how poignant is 
the ever recurring thought of their earthly separation. 
Who indeed has not observed that in this world 
there are griefs of a nature which time cannot oblite- 
rate, which sympathy cannot assuage, — that there are 
secret sorrows which embitter our happiest hours, and 
terminate only in the grave, — that there are sudden 
bereavements whose wounds heal but for a moment, 
or perhaps never cease to bleed ? And in this instance 
the void, which the premature loss of an amiable 
young man will ever cause in the hearts of those who 
knew him best, is the surest testimony of departed 
worth, and the only eulogium worthy of the good, 
the unfortunate, and the brave. 

The truly gallant Captain Gordon was, as soon as 
he recovered in some degree from his desperate 

* By a singular coincidence the two brothers commenced their career in 
the same ship, the Victory, to which their near relative, Lieutenant Carre 
Tupper, belonged when he was killed in the Mediterranean in one of her 
boats, and all three lost their lives in boats ! 



MEMOIR OF LIEUT. TUPPER. 45 

wounds, appointed to the command of the Acorn, a 
new corvette of 18 guns, and the appointment was a 
flattering tribute to his bravery and sufferings, as well 
as the prelude of further promotion. The Acorn, 
built by Sir Robert Seppings as an experimental ship, 
and represented as a most perfect vessel of her class, 
foundered in a hurricane in the Gulf Stream, on the 
16th or 17th April, 1828, while on her passage from 
Bermuda to Halifax, having never been seen or heard 
of since. That Captain Gordon outlived his wounds 
at Candia was deemed quite wonderful ; but as one 
ball lodged near the spine and could not be extracted, 
he was reduced in consequence from a remarkably 
active, athletic man, to a mere invalid, and his suffer- 
ings could have terminated only with his existence. 
A midshipman of the Sybille told the writer " that 
there was not a man on board the frigate who would 
not have run the gauntlet for Gordon."*" That ship 
had four lieutenants when her unfortunate rencontre 
with the Greeks took place, and the second, Lieute- 
nant J. O. Bliss, a very superior young man, was 
lost in the Acorn with Captain Gordon. They both 
sleep in the deep waters, and soon alas were they 
doomed to follow their brother lieutenant to that 
haven whence no voyager returns ! Hard was the 
fate of the victims, — peace be to their gallant shades ! 



February, 1832. 



* Vide Appendix B, No. 4. 






MEMOIR 

OF 

THE LATE 

COLONEL WILLIAM DE VIC TUPPER, 

OF THE CHILIAN SERVICE. 



My beautiful, my brave ! 



Ah ! who can tell how many a soul sublime 
Has felt the influence of malignant star, 
And waged with Fortune an unequal war ! 



The common ancestor of the Tuppers of Guernsey 
was an English gentleman, who settled in the island 
about the year 1592, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 
and his descendants have continued to rank among 
the first insular families. He had two sons, the elder 
of whom married the daughter of the Procureur du 
Roi, or Attorney-General,* and the younger removed 
to England. During the revolution of 1688, the 
Channel or Norman Isles were eminently protestant, 
being among the first in the British dominions to 
disarm and imprison the troops of James the Second, 
as well as to declare for the Prince of Orange ; and 
another ancestor of the subject of this memoir gladly 
conveyed to Admiral Russell, at some expense and 

* Hillary Gosselin, Esq., grandson of Hillary Gosselin, Esq., Bailiff of 
Guernsey in four reigns, — Henry VIII. to Elizabeth, — and among whose 
very few male descendants are the present Vice -Admiral Gosselin, and his 
brother Lieut. -General Gosselki. 



48 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

risk of capture, passing either through or in sight of 
the French fleet, the information that Tourville was 
at sea. For this acceptable service he was presented 
by his sovereigns, William and Mary, with a massive 
gold chain and medal, which are now in possession of 
the family, and which they are permitted to bear as 
an honorable augmentation to their arms and crest. 
The name appears to be of Saxon origin, as there are 
several Tuppers residing in Germany at this day. 

William De Vic Tupper, whose life we are about 
to narrate, was born in Guernsey on the 28th April, 
1800, and was so named from his paternal uncle, 
who fell in a duel in Guernsey with an officer in the 
army. He was the fifth of ten sons, and one of 
thirteen children. His father was a younger son of 
a much respected jurat or magistrate of the Royal 
Court, who died in 1802, leaving five children.* 
Having received an excellent education in England, 
partly under a private tutor in Warwickshire, De Vic, 
the name by which he was always designated, was 
sent on the restoration of the Bourbons, in 1814, to 
a college at Paris, in which he continued until the 
arrival of Napoleon from Elba, being then gratified 
by a glimpse of that extraordinary man. When he 
landed in France, although he had barely completed 
his fourteenth year, his stature was so tall and athletic 
as to give him the appearance of a young giant ; and 
on being asked his age at the police office, that it 
might be inserted in his passport, his reply was 
received with a smile of astonishment and incredulity, 
which afforded much subsequent amusement to his 

* Two sons, — Daniel married Catherine, daughter of John Tupper, Esq., 
Jurat; and John married Elizabeth, daughter of John Brock, Esq., — and 
three daughters, Emilia, wife of Sir P. De Havilland, Bailiff; Elizabeth, 
wife of W. Le Marchant, Esq. ; and Margaret, wife of I. Carey, Esq. 




v. /&2.D 




77, CorttMU. Zand**. . 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 49 

elder fellow travellers. At the age of sixteen his 
strength and activity were so great, that few men 
could have stood up against him with any chance of 
success. On his return to Guernsey, every interest 
the family possessed was anxiously exerted to indulge 
his wish of entering the British army, but owing to 
the great reductions made after the peace of 1815, he 
was unable to obtain a commission, even by purchase. 
Those relatives, who could best have forwarded his 
views, had been slain in the public service, and in 
that day few claims were admitted, unless supported 
by strong parliamentary influence. He attended the 
levee of the commander-in-chief, who promised to 
take his memorial into early consideration 3 but His 
Royal Highness had first to satisfy the cravings of an 
insatiable oligarchy, whose iniquitous misrule has at 
length succumbed to the desperation of a long-injured 
people. This was a cruel disappointment to one, 
whom nature ever intended for a military life, and it 
ultimately drove him to a distant land to shed that 
blood, and to yield that breath, which he in vain 
sought to devote to his native country.* Happy for 
him and for his friends had it been otherwise, as it 
will quickly be seen that he was endowed with quali- 
ties, which must have rendered him conspicuous in 
any service, but which, in a civil strife, only hastened 
his destruction. Thus disappointed, he spent two or 
three years in Catalonia, of which province a relativef 

* How different is the success of members of the same family in the same 
pursuit ! His first cousin, William Le Mesurier Tupper, entered the army 
in the 23d Royal Welsh Fusileers, in September, 1823, and in August, 1826, 
was a captain in that distinguished regiment. 

t The late P. Carey Tupper, Esq., who enjoyed a pension of £600 sterling 
a year for his services in Spain during Napoleon's invasion, and for which 
he declined the offer of an English baronetcy and a Spanish barony. During 
a long residence in that country he formed a very valuable collection of 
paintings and cartoons, part of which were sent to England. A younger 
brother was British consul at Caraccas, and subsequently at Riga. 






50 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

was British consul, and "the young Englishman" 
received the public thanks of the municipality of 
Barcelona, for having boldly exposed his life to extin- 
guish a conflagration, which threatened to destroy 
a whole barrier of the city. Here his vanity was 
constantly excited by exclamations in the streets on 
the manly beauty of his person. The profession of 
arms continuing his ruling passion, he embarked at 
Guernsey late in 1821 for Rio de Janeiro, whence he 
proceeded to Buenos Ay res, and thence over land to 
Chile. His family was averse to his joining the 
patriot cause, as it was then termed, and he arrived 
at Santiago a mere soldier of fortune, — without, we 
believe, a single letter of introduction to those in 
authority. But his appearance and manners, and a 
perfect knowledge of three languages, English, French, 
and Spanish, all of which he spoke fluently, soon 
procured him friends. The Italian, in a less degree, 
was also another of his acquirements. The garrison 
of Valdivia having revolted, Colonel Beauchef, who 
had served in Europe, and who led with Major Miller 
the troops in the successful attack of that fortress by 
Lord Cochrane, was sent from the capital to endea- 
vour to bring the mutineers to submission, and he 
requested that young Tupper might accompany him. 
They landed there alone, and, with great personal 
risk, succeeded in securing the ringleaders, who had 
ordered their men to fire on them as they approached 
in a boat ; but Colonel Beauchef having previously 
commanded them and obtained their regard, the men 
fortunately refused to proceed to extremities with 
their old commander. Young Tupper is also said to 
have excited their astonishment by the manner in 
which he seized on one of the ringleaders, a very 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 51 

athletic and powerful man, and led him captive to the 
boat. For this service, and for his conduct in a 
campaign against the fierce Araucanians, whom the 
Spaniards had never been able to subjugate, he was 
made in January, 1823, over the heads of all the 
lieutenants, captain of the grenadier company of 
battalion No. 8, commanded by the same gallant 
Frenchman, Colonel Beauchef. This company con- 
sisted of upwards of one hundred exceedingly fine 
men, and accompanying the battalion shortly after in 
an expedition to Arica, it excited the surprise of the 
comparatively diminutive Peruvians, and to which its 
captain appears not a little to have contributed. This 
expedition was soon recalled from Peru to proceed 
under the director, General Ramon Freire, against the 
island of Chiloe,* so long and so bravely defended by 
the Spanish Governor Quintanilla. On the return voy- 
age from Arica to Coquimbo the vessel, which conveyed 
the grenadiers of No. 8, was short of both provisions 
and water, and of the latter only a wine glass full was 
at last served out in twenty-four hours to each indi- 
vidual. Although the heat was intense, and two of 
the grenadiers died, the company, when drawn up to 
receive the scanty draught, invariably refused to touch 
it until their captain had tasted of each glass, and 
one dying soldier would confess himself to no one 
but his captain, so strong a hold had he already 
gained on the affections of those he commanded. 

We have already said that an attempt was about 
to be made to wrest the island of Chiloe from the 

* Lord Cochrane's next attempt was upon the island of Chiloe, the largest 
of an archipelago of seventy-two islands, stretching along the inhospitable 
coast between Valdivia and the straits of Magellan. The navigation is very 
intricate, on account of eddies, currents, and whirlpools; and a tremendous 
surf renders the coast almost every where unapproachable. — Modem Tra- 
veller, Peru, Citik, 1829. 



52 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

dominion of the Spaniards. In pursuance of this 
object, battalion No. 8 was embarked at Coquimbo in 
January, 1824, and landed on the small island of 
Quinquina, in the bay of Talcahuano, where it re- 
mained until the preparations were completed. The 
troops were formed into three divisions, and Captain 
Tupper was named second in command of the third, 
but the nomination giving great umbrage to several 
majors and lieutenant-colonels who had been passed 
over, this arrangement was annulled, and battalion 
No. 8 was directed to take the advance. The expe- 
dition reached Chiloe on the 24th of March, and the 
next day battalion No. 8 gained possession of the 
fort of Chacao, which offered but a slight resistance. 
On the 31st, a detachment consisting of two battalions, 
Nos. 7 and 8, and the grenadier company of No. 1, 
disembarked at Delcague, and at noon on the 1st of 
April commenced its march, through a very woody 
and broken country, towards the town of San Carlos. 
Two companies of grenadiers, under Captain Tupper, 
formed the vanguard of this detachment. A strong 
Spanish force awaited them in ambush at Mocopulli, 
which is an immense bog surrounded by underwood, 
having a masked gun on an adjacent eminence. The 
grenadiers and No. 8 marched through the mouth of 
the defile perfectly unconscious of their danger, and 
when within a few paces of the enemy so murderous 
a fire was opened upon them that they were thrown 
into the utmost confusion. The enemy was invisible, 
and in a short time two hundred of the patriots had 
fallen, while No. 7 halted in the rear and refused to 
advance. Captain Tupper is represented as having 
behaved here with the most devoted heroism, charging 
twice into the thickets with the few grenadiers who 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 53 

would follow him to so perilous a service. In the 
second charge three men only accompanied him, one 
of whom was killed and another received a bayonet 
wound in the face, while Captain Tupper was himself 
slightly wounded in the left side by a bullet, — another 
perforated his cap, — and a Spanish sergeant made a 
blow at him with a fixed bayonet, which he struck 
down with his sabre, and it went through his leg. 
The bushes, however, favored their escape, and, after 
being nearly surrounded, they rejoined the battalion, 
which had retreated a short distance. Colonel Beau- 
chef, as a " dernier ressort," now boldly resolved on 
attacking the enemy in close column. Animated by 
their gallant commander, the men formed, although 
they were previously in complete disorder and No. 7 
had retreated, and carried the position at the point of 
the bayonet, pursuing the royalists for about half a 
mile. But the field was dearly purchased, the detach- 
ment engaged of scarcely five hundred men having 
three hundred and twenty killed and wounded, inclu- 
ding thirteen out of eighteen officers, and seventy-one 
of one hundred and thirty-six grenadiers composing 
the vanguard. The division having thus suffered so 
severely, and the nature of the country being so 
favorable to its defenders, Colonel Beauchef returned 
next day to the ships ; and the lateness of the season, 
added to the intelligence of the arrival in the Pacific, 
from Spain, of the Asia, of 64 guns, and Achilles 
brig, of 20 guns, compelled the squadron to sail for 
Chile.* The latter vessel is the same which Colonel 
Tupper attempted, in 1830, to carry by boarding. 
He was rewarded with a brevet majority for his con- 
duct in this disastrous affair, and he wrote nearly 

* Vide Appendix C, No. 2. 



54 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

two years afterwards, in allusion to some remarks 
relative to the Chile troops, as follow : — " The obser- 
vations in F 's letters, respecting our troops, are 

not at all just ; the Chile soldiers are as fine a class 
of men as I have ever seen, extremely brave and very 
capable of fatigue, indeed to a degree of which your 
English soldiers have no idea. Moreover, they are 

very robust, and so contrary to what F supposes, 

we have not a single black in the regiment. The dis- 
cipline is tolerable now, and the clothing is superior to 
any I have seen in Spain. I perhaps speak passion- 
ately, as I dote on all my brave fellows, particularly 
on my old company of grenadiers, with the fondness 
of a brother ; the feelings of absolute adoration with 
which they regard me, and of which so many have 
given me such melancholy proofs, are surely sufficient 
to draw my heart towards them. I wish you could 
see my gallant servant as he now stands before me, — 
his dark and sparkling eye intently fixed on my 
countenance, his sun-burnt visage, his black musta- 
choes, and his athletic figure, altogether forming as 
fine a soldier as can well be seen." 

Early in the year 1825 Major Tupper expressed an 
anxious wish to obtain an appointment in one of the 
British mining associations, which at that period were 
established in Chile, and, as his letter on the subject 
contains other information, we extract the following 
particulars : — 

"Santiago, 25th May, 1825. — Military services 
are here no longer required, and foreign officers are 
therefore looked upon as a burthen, which, sooner or 
later, must be shaken off. A feeling of envy attends 
us, which renders our situation extremely galling to 
every man of honour ; and some of my companions 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 55 

in arms are indeed to be pitied, who, having lost their 
limbs in the service, are totally dependent upon the 
generosity of this ungrateful republic. As to myself 
I cannot so much complain, as I suffer little or no 
inconvenience now from the bayonet wound I received 
in the last action, my leg only swelling occasionally 
in cold weather. 

" Nor is it easy to steer a safe course in a country 
so disposed to anarchy : a congress has been esta- 
blished in three different periods, and has always 
terminated its sessions in tumult and disorder. There 
is no stability in affairs, and the director, Freire, is 
totally destitute of political courage ; he dare not be 
absolute, and the mass of the people is much too 
ignorant to admit of other government than the iron 
hand of a despot. 

" Chile contains about nine hundred thousand inha- 
bitants, exclusive of the Indians or aborigines ; it 
extends from the desert of Atacama to the borders of 
Patagonia, comprising about twenty degrees of lati- 
tude, and its extreme breadth, from the Andes to the 
sea, does not exceed one hundred leagues. The 
provinces of Coquimbo and Conception have lately 
declared indirectly their independence of Santiago, 
which is too weak to enforce their obedience. Co- 
quimbo is a pretty town of about eight thousand 
inhabitants, and the province is extremely rich in 
gold, silver, and copper mines. Conception has been 
a fine town, but it is now reduced to about six thou- 
sand residents ; the whole province is very rich and 
picturesque, abounding in wood and pastures. It has 
for many years been subject to the inroads of the 
Araucano Indians, and exposed to the depredations of 
a numerous banditti, as the lofty Andes, the trackless 



56 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

forests, and the magnificent rivers of this immense 
territory, afford so many means of refuge to the 
savage hordes of Indian and Creole rohbers, that it is 
impossible for the government, in its present debili- 
tated state, to clear the country of them. 

"The Araucano Indians extend from the river Bio 
Bio, which laves the southern side of Conception, to 
Valdivia. They are the fiercest and most warlike of 
all the tribes, and the best horsemen in the world. 
Their property consists in herds of cattle, which they 
drive before them on the approach of an enemy, and 
the women cultivate the potatoe, bean, and maize. 
They are a fine robust people, and possess great mus- 
cular strength. Polygamy is universally in practice, 
and the women are virtuous to a surprising degree. 
I never could discover any other sign of religion than 
what is to be deduced from the fact that they bury 
spurs, provisions, &c, with their dead. Their worst 
characteristic, in common with all savages, is their 
utter faithlessness and total disregard of compact or 
treaty, and they are moreover cruel beyond all con- 
ception of cruelty. I was ten months campaigning 
in their territory, and I suffered hardships which in- 
deed required all my constitution to resist. Half a 
dozen of them will put to flight any number of our 
cavalry, but they dare not face infantry ; their arms 
are sabres and lances about twenty feet long. With 
our battalion of three hundred men we defeated six or 
seven hundred of them twice." 

In October, 1825, the director, Freire, was deposed 
by an aristocratical faction ; and the conduct of Major 
Tupper, now effective of No. 8, on the occasion will 
be best explained in other extracts from his letters, 
dated at Santiago in 1826, and addressed to his family. 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 57 

" February 18. — The director has wished frequently 
to make me his aid-de-camp, and I have as often 
declined the situation. In a country like this, dis- 
tracted by party and still subject to all the disorders 
of the revolution, the stout heart and the stal worth 
arm are of more effect when they are backed by a few 
good soldiers. About a month before our departure 
for Chiloe, the director was deposed by the efforts of 
a party supported by two regiments, — he was obliged 
to leave the city in the morning ; at two in the after- 
noon Colonel Sanches was elected in his place ; in 
the night I formed a counter revolution in my own 
corps, brought over No. 7, and, in spite of the other 
two regiments, replaced Freire in his situation before 
ten o'clock the next morning. Mr. Nugent, the 
British consul-general, expressed himself well pleased 
with my conduct in this affair, but Freire is not a 
man to recollect the services of his best friends, and 
he is losing them fast. I shall be surprised if he be 
director six months hence." 

"May 29. — I perceive that honorable mention is 
made of my name in the Representative* of January 
25th last. I believe that I alluded, in one of my 
former letters, to the circumstances which gave rise 
to this commendation, — they were in themselves of 
a very unpleasant nature to me. In October last a 
party had prevailed so far in Santiago as to procure 
the spurious election of another director. Many of 
Freire's measures having given great disgust, and his 
incapacity for government becoming every day more 
evident, the election was strongly supported, particu- 
larly by two of the corps forming the garrison of 
Santiago. My commanding officer, Colonel Beauchef, 

* A Loudon daily newspaper. 



58 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

to whom I have so many and great obligations, was 
implicated with the rest. I was aware, however, that 
the faction was composed of bad and dangerous men, — 
moreover, that the provinces of Coquimbo and Con- 
ception would certainly support Freire, and therefore, 
that a civil war must be the result of the election in 
the city. 1 represented all this to Beauchef in the 
strongest terms ; I endeavoured to convince him that 
civil war must always be a losing game for foreign 
officers, — he, however, would not see it as I did, and 
I felt myself under the disagreeable necessity of taking 
the command of the regiment from him. This may 
appear strange, but it was easily effected. I called 
the officers together, and made them a spirited exhor- 
tation in my uncle Savery's style ; they all swore 
upon their drawn swords to support me to the last. 
I distributed thirty rounds of ball cartridge to each 
man, — of their love and confidence I had no doubt, — 
I believe they would follow me to perdition itself. 
All this was done at midnight. Beauchef soon after 
came into the barracks ; I made it evident to him 
that the corps was no longer under his orders ; I 
once again urged him not to ruin himself for ever, 
and he at last submitted to lead the battalion to the 
assistance of the director, and the whole business was 
quelled with the banishment of about twenty indivi- 
duals. Our corps being considered a crack one, 
other battalions were induced to follow the example 
we had set, and a counter revolution was in conse- 
quence effected without difficulty." 

The commendation in the Representative we have 
not seen, but the Morning Chronicle in January, 
1826, concluded an account of this political commo- 
tion in the following words : — 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 59 

"While the conduct of an English officer, Major 
Tupper, is mentioned in terms of high commendation 
for the firmness and steadiness with which he pre- 
vented the troops from being drawn aside from their 
duty, we are, on the other hand, very sorry to per- 
ceive the manner in which French influence has been 
exerted on this and other occasions in Chile." 

Among the individuals banished was Colonel Viel, 
a Frenchman, who went to Peru, and of whom fre- 
quent mention will be made in the sequel ; but either 
from some jealousy on the part of General Freire, or 
very possibly from a dread of giving offence to many 
powerful individuals implicated in this conspiracy, 
Major Tupper received no immediate advancement or 
reward for his very decisive interference. If the 
former motive were the cause, that jealousy probably 
arose from the circumstance of Major Tupper having 
been in some degree a rival in the affections of the 
young lady whom the director had recently married, 
and who had, it is natural to suppose, evinced a pre- 
ference for the equally young major ; but in Chile, as 
in older countries, parents do not always consult the 
inclinations of their children, and attachment is sacri- 
ficed at the shrine of wealth or ambition. General 
Freire, a native of Talcahuano, was at that time 
about forty-six years of age, and, without any of the 
usual advantages of education, had raised himself 
from a humble origin to the high situation he then 
occupied. Represented as possessing a stately and 
pleasing exterior with a frank and conciliatory address, 
he was doubtless indebted, in a great measure, to 
these advantages for his success, as he displayed 
neither talent nor energy from the date of his fatal 
elevation to power.* 

* Vide Appendix C, No. 3. 



60 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

The decisive battle of Ayacucho having, with the 
solitary exception of the fortress of Callao, effected 
the liberation of the whole continent of Spanish Ame- 
rica, it was resolved to renew the attempt to drive 
the Spaniards from the islands of Chiloe, which form 
the natural keys of the Pacific when approached from 
Cape Horn. Another expedition in consequence, 
commanded again by the director in person, set sail 
from Valparaiso in November, 1825, and, after touch- 
ing at Valdivia, reached Chiloe in January, when 
barely two thousand men were disembarked. Major 
Tupper commanded the grenadier companies of Nos. 
6 and 8, forming part of the advanced division, and 
was left by its commander, Colonel Aldunate, chiefly 
to his own direction. The enemy, in force consider- 
ably above three thousand men, including four hundred 
cavalry, occupied a strong entrenched position, his 
right flank resting upon the sea, his left guarded by 
impenetrable woods, his front palisaded and strength- 
ened by a deep and muddy rivulet, which offered but 
two passes, one near the wood defended by three 
hundred men, the other on the beach. On the 14th 
Colonel Aldunate, with six flank companies, took the 
beach, while Major Tupper, with his two companies, 
carried the pass near the wood in a few minutes, 
with little loss, by jumping over the palisade, when 
he escaped almost miraculously, as before his men 
could join him he was exposed to a tremendous 
discharge of musketry, which covered him with mud, 
and shot away one of his epaulettes. The royalists 
having been driven also from a second position, their 
cavalry attempted a charge, but were completely 
routed by the grenadier company of No. 8. The 
enemy now retreated to his last and strongest position 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 61 

on the heights of Bella Vista on the road to Castro, 
the principal town of the island, and was attacked 
unsuccessfully three different times by five flank com- 
panies. Colonel Aldunate then called Major Tupper, 
and pointing to the royalists, said, " The glory is re- 
served for you, — dislodge the enemy immediately." 
This was a most desperate service, as the road, or 
rather path, was so narrow as to admit of only three 
or four men abreast, but taking a flag in his left 
hand, Major Tupper ordered his grenadiers to follow 
him without firing a shot. By running quickly he 
reached the crest of the heights with the loss of only 
six men killed behind him, his escape appearing so 
astonishing to the survivors that they were convinced 
he wore a charm. Here he encountered a Spanish 
officer, named Lopez, commanding we believe the 
rear guard, who resolutely maintained his ground ; 
a personal combat ensued, and the Spaniard was 
killed by a sabre cut, which nearly clove his head in 
two. There was unhappily no alternative, as the 
gallant Lopez would neither surrender nor give way. 
In the mean time fourteen or fifteen of the Spaniards 
having fallen by the bayonet, the remainder fled, and 
were vigorously pursued for about a league on the 
road to Castro, when orders were brought to the 
grenadiers to halt. In this pursuit a colonel and 
about fifty men were made prisoners. The action 
lasted altogether nearly four hours, and on the whole 
the enemy, whose troops consisted partly of militia, 
shewed but little conduct or courage, having indeed 
been routed by the eight companies, which were the 
only troops seriously engaged on the side of the 
patriots, whose entire loss did not exceed one hundred 
and seventy-five men in killed and wounded. A 



62 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

gallant North American, Lieutenant Oxley of the 
navy, was killed in an attack on two gun boats, the 
stronger of which was taken. Major Tupper, having 
volunteered, assisted at its capture, although, as a 
Chileno officer of his regiment, from whom we derive 
the information, writes, "it was not necessary that 
he should, as an officer of the army, seek to fight by 
sea, particularly when he was not ordered." Major 
Tupper mentioned, that throughout the action "Colo- 
nel Aldunate had distinguished himself much, and 
that General Borgono had given great proofs of 
ability." The surrender of the island* was the imme- 
diate consequence of these successes, and Major 
Tupper was rewarded with a brevet lieutenant-colo- 
nelcy, although much more was promised him when 
the impression, which his behaviour left, was fresh in 
the mind of the director. But a foreign officer in 
any country must naturally expect that his gallantry 
and devotion will be viewed by many a native with a 
jealous eye, and indeed too often treated with frigid 
indifference when his services are no longer required. 
Alluding to this subject Major Tupper wrote from 
Santiago on the 14th of March, 1826, as follows : — 

"Long ere you receive this the public papers will 
have informed you of the success of our late expedi- 
tion against Chiloe. I have been fortunate enough to 
find my name inserted in the dispatches, and not- 
withstanding I feel convinced that there exists a 
strong feeling in the army that my services have been 
disguised and glossed over ; many causes are assigned 
for this injustice ; it is extraordinary, as politically 

* General Rodil, after resolutely sustaining a siege in Callao for thirteen 
months, surrendered from famine 19th January, 1626, and thus the dominion 
of Spain in Peru and Chile was severed nearly on the same day, and douht- 
lt >s for ever. 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 63 

speaking I have been his best friend, — I allude to the 
director Freire. I cannot think so meanly of him as 
to allow myself to suppose with some people, that 
jealousy in a foolish love affair, has had any influence 
on his mind. I shall, however, receive my commis- 
sion as lieutenant-colonel as soon as he arrives from 
Conception." 

The chief part of the expedition having returned to 
Chile, and Colonel Aldunate being appointed governor 
of the islands, No. 4 was left in garrison ; but in 
May following that battalion revolted in favor of 
O'Higgins, and the governor arrived at Valparaiso 
for assistance, having been made prisoner by the 
insurgents, and compelled to embark. Lieut. -Colonel 
Tupper volunteered to accompany him back, and 
they proceeded with less than three hundred men to 
Chiloe. On the 12th of July the Resolution trans- 
port, in which was Lieut. -Colonel Tupper with the 
troops, Colonel Aldunate being in the Achilles brig 
of war, was obliged to bring up to the eastward of the 
island of San Sebastian, the tide running out so 
strong that she could not stem it. They attempted 
to reach the Achilles, anchored on the opposite coast, 
with the flood, but the ebb making again before they 
could do so, they were driven so fast on the island of 
San Sebastian that they had scarcely time to drop an 
anchor, which brought them up with a very dangerous 
reef on their lee quarter. Here they remained for 
several hours in imminent danger of losing both the 
ship and their lives, when they fortunately drove past 
the reef in consequence of the anchor breaking. On 
their arrival near the small island of Lacao on the 
13th, at sunset, Lieut. -Colonel Tupper was ordered 
to attack the fort of Chacao with one hundred men, 



64 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

and he left the ship at midnight with his favorite 
company of grenadiers of No. 8 and a few soldiers of 
No. 1, landing in the cove of Remolinos, where he 
surprised a neighbouring battery, making prisoners 
the few artillerymen who garrisoned it. From them 
he learnt that in the battery of San Gallan, which 
occupied a strong position on the road from Lacao to 
Chacao, there were two officers and fifty men of the 
insurgents, and instantly directing himself towards it 
by a road almost impassable, as it was very boggy 
and intersected by fallen trees, he reached the battery 
at five o'clock a. m. Advancing alone with the guide 
he perceived that no sentry was guarding the land 
side, "and throwing himself on the enemy with 
intrepidity he managed to take them prisoners, not 
one, except an officer, escaping. In the attainment 
of this object no more than twenty soldiers could 
keep up with their commander, owing to the narrow- 
ness of the road, and also because it was necessary 
that those in advance should push forward, so as to 
arrive before daylight. On our part there was no 
loss whatever, and on that of the enemy only four 
wounded. This undertaking being completed, Lieut. - 
Colonel Tupper marched towards the port of Chacao, 
and took the battery there, which was abandoned by 
the enemy. On receiving intelligence of these opera- 
tions we made sail at eleven o'clock a. m., and at five 
in the afternoon anchored in the said port."* 

Colonel Aldunate having landed with the remainder 
of the troops, the insurgents were reduced to submis- 
sion without further difficulty, as the natives in great 
numbers presented themselves, and offered to act 

* Extract translated from Colonel Aldunate's dispatch. Of the dispatches, 
in which we know that honorable mention was made of Colonel Tupper's 
name, this only has accidentally reached us. 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 65 

against them. Indeed the greatest danger appre- 
hended throughout was from the season, the gales of 
wind on that coast being very violent during the 
winter. 

" In horrid climes, where Chiloe's tempests sweep, 
Tumultuous murmurs o'er the troubled deep." 

A newspaper, published in English at Buenos Ay res, 
observed in reference to the departure of this small 
expedition, which left Valparaiso in the Achilles and 
Resolution on the 25th June : # 

" Colonel Aldunate is an officer of honor, and if he 
has been surprised once, he will, for this reason, know 
how to take better precautions hereafter. Besides, 
he is accompanied by Major Tupper, whose character 
is well known, and whose valour cannot be better 
estimated than in the words of our correspondent : 
'four hundred brave soldiers, and Tupper at their 
head, are sufficient to annihilate all the royalists there 
may be in Chiloe.' " 

The above extract reached England in October, 
1826, and about the same time the Bailiff, f or chief 
magistrate of Guernsey, received the following letter 
from a British officer]: of high rank and reputation, 
who had previously been lieutenant-governor of the 
island : — 

" Though I always like to converse with you, 

yet I do not know that I should have sat 

down to write to you exactly at this time, but that I 
have had a long conversation with Mr. Miller, who 
is brother to a celebrated general of that name in 

* On this day his brother, Lieutenant Tupper, mortally wounded, was in 
the last agonies of death on board H. M. S. Sybille, at Malta. 

t Daniel De Lisle Brock, Esq., succeeded the late Sir Peter De Havilland 
as Bailiff, in 1821. 

t The late General Sir John Doyle, Bart, G.C.B., &c. 

E 



66 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

the Peruvian army, and who has himself lately arrived 
from Santiago. 

" He there knew your nephew, young Tupper, and 
his account is so creditable to that fine fellow, so 
honorable to our country, and must be so gratifying 
to his highly respectable family, that I cannot defer 
communicating it to you. He says that in point of 
appearance he is the handsomest man he has ever 
seen in either hemisphere ; that he is esteemed one of 
their best soldiers, extremely active and habile ; and 
stands so well with all parties, that no change in the 
local politics of the country could be in any way 
disadvantageous to him ; and he adds, that he is 
perfectly idolized by the troops he commands, parti- 
cularly those who have served with him in action ; 
and to crown all, he says, with a partiality very justi- 
fiable, especially to so distinguished a brother, that 
when they speak of young Tupper they call him 
another General Miller. This at all events, in com- 
ing from my friend, is the acme of panegyric, for the 
brother is really a first rate character. I could not 
resist telling you all this upon the testimony of a 
cool, sensible, and unprejudiced observer. Pray re- 
member me to Savery and my other friends, and 
believe me, &c." 

Lieut. -Colonel Tupper, on his return from Chiloe 
to Santiago, in August, 1826, learnt that he had 
become lieutenant-colonel effective, in consideration of 
his services in the recent reduction of that island. 
In December he joined at Talca the army of the 
south, under General Borgono, whose object was to 
destroy a horde of bandits composed chiefly of In- 
dians, and of nearly a thousand strong, who ravaged! 
the province of Conception in summer, retiring on 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 67 

the approach of winter to the eastern side of the 
Cordillera.* Their incursions had been of late so 
frequent and destructive, that it was absolutely neces- 
sary to put them down. Three divisions, to act on 
different points, were accordingly formed, and Lieut. - 
Colonel Tupper was appointed to command a squadron 
of dragoons, with which he passed the Cordillera, 
parallel with the town of Chilian, in pursuit of the 
bandits, and went to the eastward as far as the river 
Nanken, in the province of Mendoza. Pincheira 
contrived, however, to elude all pursuit, and before 
the end of the campaign Lieut. -Colonel Tupper was 
sent by General Borgono on a mission to the capital, 
where he arrived in April, 1827, and on the 1st of 
May following was appointed first aid-de-camp to the 
supreme government, an office of trust and respecta- 
bility. At this time General Pinto, a statesman of 
liberal principles and enlightened views, although 
perhaps wanting in political firmness, was elected 
president in the place of General Freire. Much was 
expected from the administration of the new president, 
and it was hoped that he would be powerful enough 
to remove many existing abuses, but those interested 
in their continuance proved in the end the stronger 
party. General Pinto, having been employed in a 
diplomatic capacity in England, was a warm admirer 
of every thing English, and his chief aid-de-camp 
ever found in him a sincere and steadfast friend. He 
wrote on June 27th : — 

" I consider my commission in this service as secure 
as an employment under any South American govern- 
ment can well be. My pay is that of a lieutenant- 

* They were commanded by Pincheira, the son of a European by an 
Indian mother, who held the rank of colonel in the Spanish service, and 
committed his depredations under the Spanish standard. 



68 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

colonel of cavalry, with one hundred and fifty dollars 
per month, and my situation is at present ' Edecan 
Mayor,' or aid-de-camp in chief to the president of 
the republic, General Pinto, a very clever man, who 
has resided in England for some time. This situation 
I shall probably hold for some years if I continue in 
the sendee." 

And on August 4, 1827 : — 

"The president mentioned to me some time back, 
that should the present governor of Chiloe resign, as 
was expected, he would send me there. My pay 
would then be four thousand dollars per annum, and 
there are other advantages." 

In October, 1827, a midshipman of H. M. S. Doris 
unfortunately killed a Chileno sergeant, who had 
attacked him with his bayonet during some disturb- 
ance in the theatre at Valparaiso. It appears that 
this young officer was stabbed twice by the sergeant, 
who was intoxicated, when in his own defence he 
drew out a pocket pistol and shot him dead. Sir 
John Sinclair, who commanded the frigate, gave up 
the midshipman to the authorities on shore, the inha- 
bitants of the town declaring that they would have 
vengeance either of him or of some other British 
officer ; and the president of Chile ordered a court 
martial, which was composed partly of foreign officers 
in the service of the republic. At the solicitation of 
the British consul-general, Lieut. -Colonel Tupper 
undertook the defence, and it is said conducted it 
with so much ability that the result was an acquittal, 
although it was generally expected that the prisoner 
would have been found guilty of murder, such was 
the irritation of the public mind against him, and in 
that case the consequence might have been fatal. 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 69 

Lieut. -Colonel Tupper again wrote on April 5, 
1828, as follows:— 

" Our congress met on the 25th of February ; it is 

very badly composed, and will not, I fear, do much 

good. The provinces begin to be greatly divided, 

] thanks to the system of federalism. I think the whole 

[ of South America is in a dreadful state of anarchy and 

' confusion, — so much ignorance and so little morality. 

j I believe it is impossible that the different states can 

(constitute themselves for many an age, and what 

Moore says of another country applies particularly to 

them : — ' And there is certainly a close approximation 

to savage life, not only in the liberty which they 

enjoy, but in the violence of party spirit, and of 

private animosity which results from it.' " 

While acting as aid-de-camp, Lieut. -Colonel Tupper 
was engaged in the suppression of two or three dan- 
gerous revolts, incited by the party to which we have 
just alluded, and whose private interests had suffered 
when in 1823 many exclusive privileges were abo- 
lished. Their first object was to supplant General 
Pinto in his high office, so as to accomplish their 
insidious designs under the cloak of legal authority. 
We subjoin extracts from two letters which the sub- 
ject of this memoir wrote to a brother at this period. 
"Santiago, August 17, 1828. — My long silence 
has been owing to a trip which I made last month to 
San Fernando, (forty leagues south of Santiago,) to 
suppress a mutiny among the forces quartered there. 
General Borgono, having been ordered to take com- 
mand of the troops destined to put down the mutineers, 
requested the president to allow me to accompany 
him, which was acceded to. We left this place on 
the 4th of July, with two hundred infantry, and were 



70 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

subsequently joined by about four hundred militia 
cavalry. On arriving near San Fernando we found 
that the mutineers, battalion No. 6, about three hun- 
dred in number, had taken up a strong position to the 
north of the town. Not judging it prudent to attack 
them, we passed on to San Fernando ; the general 
sent me before him, with two weak companies of 
infantry, to take possession of the place ; on arriving 
in the Plaza Mayor I was charged by a body of 
dragoons, two hundred strong, who, having declared 
for the mutineers, had just arrived from Curico, about 
twelve leagues south of San Fernando. After a little 
skirmishing I succeeded in driving them out of the 
town, having lost on our part two men killed and 
five wounded, which casualties arose from the fire of 
a detachment of No. 6, which had possessed itself of 
a church steeple. The general soon after joined us. 
Immediately after this affair the dragoons re-united 
out of the town, and joined battalion No. 6. Both 
corps marched to Santiago, seizing all the horses on 
the road, and were so expeditious as put it altogether 
out of our power to overtake them. They were met 
near Santiago by about one hundred cuirassiers and 
four hundred militia infantry. After exchanging a 
few shots, the government party took to their heels 
and ran into Santiago. About sixty of the militia 
were cut down by the dragoons, and the mutinous 
troops marched in the evening to the artillery bar- 
racks. We arrived next day close to the capital, and 
they, finding our force so near, the people enraged 
against them and altogether opposed to the change 
of government which they had in view, accepted 
a general pardon and submitted to the constituted 
authorities. And thus ended the business, being, I 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 71 

dare say, only the harbinger of the civil wars which 
are about to break out over all South America. It 
was reported in Santiago that I had been killed in 
the affair of San Fernando ; I hope the report will 
not, by any channel, have reached you. Since these 
things came to pass, the congress has sanctioned a 
constitution, which many think is likely to allay our 
political effervescence, while others imagine it will 
prove another apple of discord ; for my part, I am of 
opinion that the elements of political organization are 
throughout South America inefficient to the establish- 
ment of good government, and, perhaps fortunately 
for these states, that despotism, which is the child of 
anarchy, will ere long crush in its iron grasp as well 
the seeds of discord as the tree of liberty. 

" E'en now 
While yet upon Columbia's rising brow 
The showy smile of young presumption plays, 
Her bloom is poison'd and her heart decays. 
Even now in dawn of life her sickly breath 
Burns with the taint of empires near their death, 
And like the nymphs of her own withering clime 
She's old in youth, she's blasted in her prime!" 

Moore. 

"August 18. — I have been compelled to melt the 
seal of this letter to inform you that a very dangerous 
conspiracy was discovered last night, of which the 
object was, as usual, to drive the president from his 
situation. It is ascertained that the intention of the 
conspirators was to murder the president, General 
Borgono, myself, and about ten others, among them 
Viel, a French officer. Part of the battalion No. 6 
and the dragoons had already entered into the conspi- 
racy. The principal persons accused have absconded, 
and we have only been able to seize three of the 
subordinate agents." 



72 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

"September 15. — I think I mentioned in my last 
letter that a conspiracy had been discovered, the 
object of which was to effect an entire change in the 
government ; it was intended to seize upon the pre- 
sident and upon several of those who surround him, 
putting them to death if the least resistance were 
offered. We had, however, timely notice of the 
affair, and were enabled to suppress the mutiny en- 
tirely in one battalion. An order having been sent 
at the same time to arrest some officers of dragoons, 
the whole regiment rose and marched to the province 
of Conception, where, being met by a superior force, 
they were obliged to lay down their arms. On the 
18th of this month the civil authorities and military 
will swear to the maintenance of the constitution. 
There are two houses of representation elected every 
two years ; foreigners can occupy every situation 
excepting that of president and minister of state. 
On the whole I think the constitution is not a bad 
one, but the popular elections are too frequent." 

On March 10, 1829, he again wrote to his brother 
as follows : — 

" I procured Miller's memoirs yesterday, and turned 
over to the taking of Chiloe in 1826; the author 
had much better have said nothing about it. He 
states our force at four thousand men, while the real 
number embarked at Valparaiso was this : — 

Artillery 59 

Battalion No. 1 450 

4 583 

6 550 

7 371 

8 3/8 

Dismounted Cavalry 142 

2533 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 73 

Of this reduced number not quite two thousand 
men were disembarked at Chiloe, as upwards of one 
hundred men were left sick at Valdivia, and more than 
four hundred remained on board the ships. The Chi- 
lotes had considerably upwards of three thousand men, 

of whom four hundred were cavalry. Major , 

so far from distinguishing himself, would I think have 
been tried in the English service for cowardice. He 
commanded the first column of grenadiers, and I 
the second ; notwithstanding, my column led the van 
during the whole action, he bringing up the rear at a 
considerable distance, and certainly not being under 
tire during the four hours the affair lasted. Besides, 
he did what I think no brave man would do, — he 
took off his epaulettes when the first shot was fired, 
and gave them to his servant in presence of both 
columns of grenadiers." 

In reply to some questions from his brother relative 
to a narrative by Doctor Leighton, an English sur- 
geon, of an expedition in the Indian territory in 1822, 
published in Miers' travels in Chile, he wrote from 
Santiago in October, 1829 : — 

1 ' About a month previously to the expedition which 
Leighton narrates, Colonel Beauchef sent me with 
thirty men to endeavour to surprise Palacios in his 
dwelling, situated in the Indian territory, about forty 
or fifty leagues to the northward of Valdivia. The 
intended surprise was planned upon the information 
of a deserter of ours, who had resided some time 
with Palacios ; he offered to guide me, and averred 
that the dwelling of the bandit could be reached in 
one night. We set out accordingly, and after a most 
fatiguing night's march arrived by daybreak only on 
the borders of the territory of the Indians of Tolten. 



74 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

If you have a good map you will see this river laid 
down. These were friendly to us, and they assured 
me that I could not reach the dwelling of Palacios in 
less than three days' very hard march. I at once 
perceived that Beauchef had been grossly deceived, 
and that I had no chance of success in the object of 
my expedition. I was, however, too young in my 
enthusiasm to be so easily turned back. I continued, 
I may say merely for the fun of the thing, and to 
have a little insight into the customs of the Indians, 
who are rather numerous about there. I was regaled 
by some caciques, and I skirmished with others ; I 
even made love to the dryades of the land, with 
whom, however, I was not successful. I got a terrible 
box on the ear from one sylvan beauty, which almost 
felled me to the earth. On the third day I was 
nearly surprised by Palacios himself, at the head of 
two or three hundred Indians. However, I was not 
surprised, and I took up so good a position and 
shewed such a countenance, that, as Palacios himself 
afterwards confessed to me, he and his Indians thought 
the attack would be too difficult. I retreated, — he 
dodged me until I reached Tolten, and then left me. 
The Indians of Tolten, although friendly, did not 
accompany me, as they considered I was going to 
certain destruction. Palacios was much dreaded by 
them ; he was a native of Valdivia, had been a ser- 
geant in the Spanish army, and spoke the Indian 
language perfectly. He was subsequently betrayed 
into the hands of the patriots and shot in Valdivia, 
where he had just arrived when our first expedition 
to Chiloe touched in that port. I spoke to him for 
more than an hour." 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 75 

On the retirement of Colonel Beauchef in June, 
1829, Lieut. -Colonel Tupper unfortunately for him- 
self, as it necessarily embroiled him in the approaching 
commotion, accepted the command of his old batta- 
lion, No. 8, and on the following month he was 
made full colonel. A few weeks before hostilities 
commenced between the rival parties, Colonel Tupper 
with the same prophetic spirit which is visible in a 
preceding letter, and with a presentiment which was 
too soon to be realized, thus wrote to a member of 
his family in Guernsey : — 

" I naturally cannot consider my life of long dura- 
tion ; I am too immediately acted upon by every 
revolution in this country not to be prepared for 
death, and to be perfectly resigned to it when the 
day shall arrive ; even in my time how many foreign 
officers have not perished by climate and by the 
sword. I shall have lived long enough if I leave my 
children a subsistence and a name unblemished. My 
late elevation in rank is an earnest of my rising repu- 
tation, and I have perhaps reason to hope that when 
I fall, my rank and the circumstances of my death 
will place an obligation on Chile towards my family, 
which she may be willing to acknowledge." 

Spain has indeed much to answer for, not only 
to her late South American colonies, but to general 
civilization and humanity, for three centuries of the 
grossest misrule that ever disgraced any age or coun- 
try. Her dominion on that continent, having been 
from the first pregnant with avarice and cruelty, is 
perhaps the foulest blot on the moral history of the 
world. But she has not escaped the punishment of 
her political offences, and the hand of retributive 
justice is surely visible in her present state of degra- 



76 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

dation. Were it otherwise, an ' unholy' alliance of 
despots dared not have decreed that the will of her 
king should be superior to the voice of her people, 
and that the obstinacy of one man should bring 
desolation over a whole country. Too proud to 
acknowledge his weakness, and too vicious to yield 
where submission would be a virtue, the wretched 
Ferdinand has prolonged the contest with independ- 
ence abroad and freedom at home, until his character 
has become a by-word among nations. Proud and 
once mighty Spain is indeed fallen, — her coasts un- 
protected, her commerce destroyed, her power a 
nullity, her name almost a term of reproach, she 
presents a sad spectacle of the evils arising from a 
long course of absolute government ! And if such be 
the lamentable position of the mother country, can it 
be a matter of surprise that the acquisition of inde- 
pendence found her colonies totally unprepared to 
appreciate the blessings of rational freedom ? They 
had been so long and so studiously debased, that he, 
who expected that a native master spirit would at 
once appear among each of them to suppress the 
constant struggles for power and to allay the prolific 
elements of anarchy and confusion, the natural con- 
sequences of that debasement, must have been little 
acquainted with the workings of the human mind. 
The effects of so cruel a system of policy could only 
be mitigated or removed by years of probation and 
suffering. In Chile the Spaniards, on their final 
expulsion, left an intolerant priesthood and a selfish 
oligarchy, — the one anxious to preserve its sway, the 
other to continue in possession of several royal mono- 
polies, which were of course inconsistent with the 
general welfare and republican feelings of equity. 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 77 

The predominance of both, now united there for 
mutual support, must disappear before the increasing 
knowledge of the people ; the impious league of 
church and state, for interested purposes, cannot long 
exist with genuine liberty, as to question the tenets 
of the one will be to draw down the vengeance of the 
other, — will be to stigmatize constitutional resistance 
as infidelity, and religious reformation as political 
disobedience. 

In June, 1829, General Pinto was re-elected presi- 
dent of the republic for five years, but unfortunately 
he declined the office, and this unexpected refusal not 
only compromised his best friends, but was the main 
cause of all the bloodshed which followed. In the 
subsequent crisis General Freire's conduct was incon- 
sistent and vacillating ; and General Prieto, under 
the guise of obtaining the recal and return to power 
of the exiled Director O'Higgins, whose aid-de-camp 
he had formerly been, having marched his troops 
from Conception towards the capital, a coalition of 
the disaffected there was formed to support him, and 
through his means to seize on the reins of govern- 
ment. The mob, ever fond of change, was induced 
by large bribes and the hope of plunder to act under 
this coalition, which, if at first weak in numbers, 
was very formidable in resources. General Freire 
attempted to assume the command of the garrison of 
Santiago, but the field officers of the different corps 
refused to obey his orders, and resolved to acknow- 
ledge only the existing authorities. Thus foiled, he 
introduced himself into the barracks of No. 8, during 
the absence of the colonel, and ordering the battalion 
under arms, he endeavoured in an insidious harangue 
to gain over the soldiers to his own purposes, well 



78 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

knowing that their defection, as composing the finest 
battalion in the service, would prove fatal to the 
constitutional cause. Colonel Tupper, being quickly 
informed of the attempt, mounted his horse and gal- 
loped furiously to the barracks. He rushed in, and 
the difficulty of his situation will be easily con- 
ceived, — a foreigner opposed singly to a native of the 
highest present military and late civil rank, and 
beloved also by the soldiery, — but the result will best 
prove the attachment of his men towards him. Ad- 
dressing them in Spanish, he spoke briefly to this 
effect : ' ' Soldiers ! the captain general has led you 
to victory, — your colonel has also led you to victory ; 
whom do you obey, — your colonel or General Freire ?" 
The whole battalion instantaneously responded as one 
man, " We obey our colonel, — Viva el Coronel Tup- 
per !" and General Freire and his suite, among whom 
was Admiral Blanco, were happy to escape unhurt, 
the soldiers having, we believe, levelled their muskets 
at them. On their way to the barracks they were 
followed by a large mob, who attempted to force the 
gates, but on hearing Colonel Tupper order the guard 
to prime and load, the people, well knowing his 
resolute character, dispersed in a moment. This 
attempt was the more dangerous, as battalion No. 1 
was quartered in the same barracks, and would have 
immediately followed the secession of No. 8. Freire, 
on his return home, was taunted by his wife with the 
baseness and inconsistency of his conduct on this 
occasion. Her family belonged to the constitutional 
party, and this beautiful young woman told her 
husband that the soldiers had acted like men of 
honor, and in her indignation she threw a plate on a 
marble table, whence it glanced off and shattered a 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 79 

large and valuable mirror into pieces. She was pro- 
bably the cause of his returning to that party which 
he should never have forsaken. It may be added 
here that Colonel Tupper, during his short command, 
had been enabled, from his personal influence with 
the president, to do much for the welfare of his bat- 
talion, which, having been repeatedly distinguished 
in battle, was proud and jealous of its reputation ; 
and the officers, who were principally very young 
men of the first families in the country, adhered to 
their colonel to the last with inviolable fidelity. He 
had established a school in the regiment, and when- 
ever the pay of the men was in arrear, he borrowed 
money on his own responsibility from his friends, and 
discharged the claims of his soldiers. 

Amid the distrust and confusion which prevailed 
during this eventful period in Santiago, General Prieto 
arrived by easy marches in the neighbourhood, and 
encamped his army on some heights within a league 
of the city. General Lastra, an old man and without 
experience, having served chiefly in the navy, was 
appointed, as he was a native Chileno, first, and Colo- 
nel Viel second in command of the constitutional 
troops, and daily skirmishes preceded the decisive 
action of December 14th. Subjoined is a transcript 
of the last unfinished letter which Colonel Tupper 
addressed to his brother, and which not only best 
explains the origin of the contest, the objects of the 
different leaders, and the part which he took in this 
trying moment, but affords a general specimen of 
his style of correspondence without the most distant 
idea of publication. It should, however, be remem- 
bered, that the letter was written in the hurry and 
confusion attendant on his approaching departure for 



80 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

Conception, for which port he sailed with his battalion 
on the 28th of January. 

"Valparaiso, January 26, 1830. — I have not the 
slightest idea when I addressed you last, or indeed 
what chapter in my history I then concluded ; it is 
nevertheless certain that the eventful period, which 
has since intervened, has been so chequered with inci- 
dent, so replete with tumult and strife, that had I the 
pen of Caesar I could almost imitate his commentaries, 
if indeed any string of occurrences in this wretched 
country could merit such a book with such a name. 

" I am afraid that poor Chile has forfeited for ever 
the reputation of comparative tranquillity and orga- 
nized government, which hitherto had been the boast 
of those interested in her welfare. The scenes we 
have lately witnessed, and the illiberal and even 
furious hatred evinced throughout the country against 
all foreigners, have perfectly astonished even those 
who were least friendly to the character of these people, 
and least sanguine in their prognostics of future 
prosperity. 

' ' I really sit down in absolute despair of being 
able to make you understand the cause and course of 
late events, or to write such a narrative as will not 
confuse you, and of which the tediousness will not 
disgust you ; it is indeed a hard task, and I would 
rather make bricks for the Egyptians, but I know 
that you will expect some account from me, — let me 
therefore cross the Rubicon at once. I would give 
you Ceesar's language in his own words if I recollected 
them, but much riding has long jostled classic lore 
out of me. 

"You know that the elections closed about six 
months ago ; they were gained by a party called the 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 81 

* Liberates,' in contra-distinction to the ' Peleucones,' 
who are the aristocrats of the country and shun all 
innovations, and to the Estanqueros, who are the 
vampires of the state, a party whose object is to raise 
itself to opulence by exclusive commercial privileges, 
inconsistent with the general prosperity. The O'Hig- 
ginists form another party, the object of which is to 
bring back O'Higgins and absolute government. 

" I have said that the ' Liberates ' gained the elec- 
tions ; General Pinto, their chief, was elected president 
for five years by the electoral colleges, (not by con- 
gress,) the constitution stating that any individual, 
having more than one half of the votes of the 
electoral colleges, becomes president of course, — 
otherwise the election is left to congress. The vice- 
president is elected by congress, from among those 
persons who, next to the president, unite most votes 
from the electoral colleges, or, as the ' Liberates' 
have it, from among all those who have votes at all. 
Now Pinto had more than half the votes of the col- 
leges, and was therefore recognised president. The 
election of vice-president became the attribute of 
congress, and this was a most interesting point, as 
by this time General Pinto had positively declined 
the acceptance of the presidency. 

"The constitution enacts, that the vice-president 
is to be elected by congress from among those having 
the immediate majority of votes, — ' Mayoria imme- 
diata.' Those opposed to the • Liberates' construe 
the meaning to be that the vice-president is to be 
elected from the two having most votes from the 
colleges, while on the other hand the ' Liberates' 
contend that the vice-president may be elected indis- 
criminately from all those who have votes. In con- 

F 



82 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

sequence congress, composed almost exclusively of 
' Liberates,' elected as vice-president the individual 
third on the list of candidates, that is, leaving out 
the two with more votes. This individual, however, 
resigned also, and the functions of government then 
devolved on the president of the upper house, who 
issued a convocation ordering a new election of pre- 
sidents by the electoral colleges. 

" General Prieto, an old friend of O'Higgins, had 
been named, previous to the elections, general of the 
army of the south, (situated on the Indian frontier,) 
and there is now no doubt that from the day of his 
nomination he intended to subvert the government, 
and to render the O'Higgins party once more para- 
mount in Chile. Even very shortly after his nomi- 
nation, reports were received in Santiago that his 
conduct was extremely suspicious, and that his inten- 
tions were secretly hostile. 

" On learning General Pinto's election to the presi- 
dency, he declared himself, and issued a proclamation 
in which he asserted his refusal to obey the established 
authorities, avowing as his motive the necessity of 
liberating the people from the rule of an illegal con- 
gress. When the news of Prieto's revolt reached 
Santiago, the president of the upper house, a poor 
old man of the name of Vicuna, was exercising the 
functions of government from causes already detailed. 
He had the more reason to be alarmed at his situation 
that both the Estanqueros and Peleucones* declared 
for Prieto, and coalesced to destroy with one effort 
the government and the liberal party, by which it 
was supported. 

* Peleucones are royalists or old Spaniards; Estanco, a monopoly granted 
or retained by the government. — See Glossary, in Miers' Chile. 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 83 

"There is little doubt that matters would have still 
gone well had General Freire acted with his accus- 
tomed integrity, but this weak man was completely 
led by two or three of the ' Estanqueros,' and, though 
the natural enemy of Prieto, he positively refused to 
support Vicuna, — on the contrary, leaning consider- 
ably to the other side. 

1 ' I was at this time quartered with my corps in 
Santiago, and I considered it my duty to support the 
government and congress, because I think that the 
case is extremely rare in which a military man can 
with honor do otherwise, and because I was satisfied 
that the matter in question was not one in which the 
interference of the military was at all called for, the 
greatest grievance urged by the rebels being confined 
to the allegation that the letter of the law had not 
been adhered to in the election of vice-president. I 
knew moreover that all parties, whatever their avowed 
object might be, only sought the furtherance of their 
private views, — that they all wished to be in place, 
and to plunder the country at discretion, — and above 
all, I considered that no free government or orderly 
state could exist an hour if the military were once 
allowed to throw the sword into the scale, and decide 
points of legislation by the force of arms, as is now 
too generally the case in South America. Fortunately 
the chiefs, who were in garrison in the capital, were 
much of this opinion. We determined to give Prieto 
battle in support of legitimate authority, and the 
several corps therefore left Santiago. The enemy 
was encamped about a league from the city, on ground 
higher than ours, though not otherwise favorable 
to him, as many ditches and walls (with the excep- 
tion of the position itself low) rendered ineffectual 



84 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

his immense superiority in cavalry. He shewed us 
his front, his right resting on a farm house called 
Ezaguirre, much strengthened by walls and ditches, 
and his left on another called Ochagavia, scarcely 
less capable of defence. A large body of cavalry was 
stationed on the right of Ezaguirre. We marched in 
parallel columns ; the battalions in close columns of 
companies, Pudeto* forming the left of the line. 
Each flank was protected by two pieces of artillery, — 
a howitzer in the centre ; our cavalry, about one 
hundred and eighty strong, was advanced considerably 
before our left flank. 

"The battle began by a charge which the enemy's 
cavalry, posted at Ezaguirre, made upon our cavalry, 
which, being much weaker, fled instantly. The 
enemy's cavalry pursued ours so vigorously, that the 
greater part passed our column within fifty paces ; 
the rear companies faced about and opened fire, which 
soon obliged them to retire. 

" Our column had already halted on coming within 
range, and a very smart cannonade opened on both 
sides ; the enemy's guns were extremely well served, 
but did little execution notwithstanding, as, owing to 
the chance of the ricochet, every ball went directly 
over the column it was intended for, and one went 
through my flag. 

" We had halted in front of Ochagavia, at the dis- 
tance of little more than half a mile from the house. 
Our three light companies were ordered to move to 
the right and to attack the left of Ochagavia ; I was 
ordered to lead the attack in front ; we expected to 

* His regiment, No. 8, so called from a place in Chiloe, where the two 
flank companies of the hattalion distinguished themselves in the battle of 
Bella Vista. The two other battalions in the action were No. 1, or Chacabuco, 
and No. 7, or Conception, 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 85 

have much to do, but were mistaken, as the enemy 
abandoned the house after skirmishing a little, and 
we occupied it immediately. 

" We now held possession of the position which 
: had originally covered the enemy's left flank, having 
experienced a very trifling loss ; however, our light 
companies, supported by the grenadiers, commenced 
a sharp firing in the direction of Ezaguirre, and No. 1, 
or Chacabuco, was ordered to support them, Pudeto 
and Conception bringing up what now might be 
termed the reserve. This was twice charged by the 
enemy's cavalry, which had formed behind Ochagavia's 
house, but these charges were rendered ineffectual by 
the steadiness of both battalions and by the nature of 
the ground, which was not favorable to cavalry. The 
enemy behaved well, and evidently suffered much 
from these charges, as well from musketry as from 
grape shot, and made off" quite discomfited. 

" In the meanwhile the light companies and grena- 
diers, vanquishing all opposition, beat the enemy's 
infantry out of Ezaguirre's house in a very short time, 
and occupied the second position, making many pri- 
soners, among whom the Choco Silva with his host. 
My major, Varela,* even took all the knapsacks of 
No. 3 ; and he has assured me on his word of honor, 
that Arequita, the major of that battalion, sent an 
officer to him to beg that he would cease firing, and 
that they would lay down their arms. This was 
complied with, and all the soldiers who had not dis- 
persed were disarmed and made prisoners. The firing 
had of course then become very slack, and in fact 
the battle was considered to be over by those who 
occupied Ezaguirre's house. 

* Slain also at Lircai on the 17th April, 1830. 



86 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

" Immediately on repulsing the cavalry, the batta- 
lions of Conception and Pudeto marched towards 
Ezaguirre's house. On arriving near it, the firing 
having now almost ceased, I saw General Prieto ride 
up a little to the left of my column to Colonel 
Rondisoni, and, as I then understood, gave himself 
up a prisoner of war. I soon after received an order 
to cease further aggression, and to recall the skir- 
mishers, which I immediately complied with. 

"A small part of the enemy's infantry, about two 
hundred and fifty men, which still held together, was 
situated some ten paces on the other side of a wall 
close to us ; the soldiers were resting on their arms, 
and appeared, to all intents and purposes, to have 
yielded themselves prisoners of w r ar. We formed our 
corps in line along the wall, and I asked General 
Lastra's permission to disarm these troops, but he 
would not consent, saying it w r as useless to humiliate 
the enemy further." 

Here the letter thus abruptly terminates without 
even a signature, owing to the writer having sailed so 
soon after from Valparaiso, and been doubtless busily 
employed in the intermediate time in consulting with 
General Freire, and in superintending the preparations 
for the conveyance of his battalion. This sudden 
termination is the more to be regretted, as the writer 
was evidently about to narrate, — what, however, is too 
well authenticated to admit of the slightest doubt, — 
the perfidious conduct of General Prieto, who, when 
he found that the battle was lost, rode up to Colonel 
Rondisoni, and endeavoured to obtain by stratagem 
what he could not by the force of arms. Taking the 
colonel by the hand, he declared that the contest was 
over, and that he was anxious to avoid the further 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 87 

effusion of blood. With these professions he was 
permitted to pass on unguarded to the rear, where 
Colonel Viel appears to have been deceived by similar 
declarations, as he not only ordered that the swords 
of the officers, who had surrendered, should be re- 
turned to them, but allowed Prieto to proceed to the 
farm house of Ochagavia, accompanied by part of 
one of his battalions, which had also surrendered, but 
had not been disarmed ! From Ochagavia, Prieto 
sent officers to Lastra and Viel, with assurances of his 
anxiety to terminate at once the strife which was 
desolating the country, and with entreaties that they 
would come to him to hold a conference for that 
purpose. They went, and, by this second unaccount- 
able step, suspicions of something worse than incapa- 
city or indifference to the constitutional cause are 
doubly excited. On their arrival, Prieto told them 
that they were his prisoners, and pretended that not 
he, but they, had sought the cessation of the combat. 
He next sent for the remaining constitutional chiefs, 
under the pretext that their presence was requisite to 
assist in the conference; but Colonel Tupper, "this 
chief, whose eulogium our pen is too feeble to com- 
pose worthily, — this bold chief, whose memory will 
live in the hearts of all true Chilenos, even after his 
brilliant course is run, — this dbtief, we say," # after 
consulting his companions, returned for answer, that 
unless Lastra and Viel were released in a few minutes, 
Prieto would be attacked, and himself and his fol- 
lowers be put to the sword. Prieto now became 
alarmed and released his dupes, but not until the 
feeble Lastra had been compelled to sign a treaty, by 
which he agreed to suspend all offensive operations 

* Extract translated from a printed "Aviso al Publico." 



88 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

for the present, alleging afterwards that he did so to 
regain his liberty. In confirmation of this account, 
gleaned from public documents, the truth of which 
might otherwise be questioned, it may be as well to 
add the following extract from a private letter, dated 
Santiago, 14th December, 1830, and written by one 
Englishman to another, both perfect strangers to 
Colonel Tupper's family : — 

" This being agreed to, Lastra and Viel went over, 
but they were no sooner arrived than Prieto said, 
' Deliver your swords, — you are my prisoners.' They 
were greatly enraged at so felonious an action. Prieto 
requested Lastra to sign a document to the effect 
that Tupper should surrender with his battalion ; but, 
be this true or not, certain it is that Prieto sent to 
Tupper, stating that his presence was necessary, as 
Lastra and Viel could not come to any decision 
without him. Tupper replied that he would not go 
over, and insisted on Lastra and Viel immediately 
returning to their stations. After waiting a short 
time, and no appearance of these officers, he sent to 
Prieto to say that, if they were not released in five 
minutes, he would immediately attack, and shew no 
quarter either to him (Prieto) or to any other who 
might fall into his hands. This had the desired 
effect ; the officers were given up, but Prieto implored 
that the war should cease, and that a treaty should 
be entered into." 

Notwithstanding that a convention, obtained under 
such circumstances, was any thing but binding on 
General Lastra, whose first act should have been to 
punish him by whom he had been so grossly deceived, 
an armistice of forty-eight hours took place, during 
which General Freire was appointed, by mutual con- 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 89 

sent, to the command of both armies, Prieto and 
his troops being most imprudently, if not most 
treacherously, admitted into the capital, although his 
infantry had, or might have, been made prisoners, 
his artillery captured, and his cavalry completely 
discomfited. 

This action was fought on the morning of the 1 4th 
of December ; the numbers on each side were, we 
believe, about two thousand men ; and fully two 
hundred men appear to have fallen, the greater part 
of whom belonged to Prieto's army. Colonel Tupper 
is represented to have behaved on this day with more 
than usual gallantry, although his letter is so barren 
as to his own conduct ; but he had the bitter morti- 
fication of seeing the success, to which he had mainly 
contributed, rendered perfectly unavailing by this 
ridiculous treaty. During the battle about one hun- 
dred and fifty of Prieto's mounted followers penetrated 
into the city, either in search of plunder or in the 
hope of causing a diversion ; and after sacking the 
French consulate, for which outrage a compensation 
of thirty thousand dollars was exacted by a French 
squadron in 1831, and committing other depredations, 
they proceeded to the house of Colonel Tupper with 
the view, it would seem, of murdering his wife, who 
was far advanced in pregnancy. Not finding her at 
home, and understanding that she had taken refuge 
at the bishop's residence, they galloped thither, and, 
breaking open the portal, declared that they were 
come to kill "la muger del Ingles Tupper." The 
bishop approached them in his robes, with a large 
crucifix in his hands, and the demons fled almost 
as soon as they saw him. On hearing their cries, a 
deep swoon happily came to the relief of their in- 



90 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

tended victim ; but the previous anguish of this 
unhappy young woman, then in her twenty-third 
year, may be more easily conceived than described. 
She had heard, during the morning, every shot fired 
by the contending armies, and did not yet know the 
fate of her husband ! The day after the action, 
Colonel Tupper waited in plain clothes on General 
Freire, and resigned the command of his regiment, 
determined to serve no longer under such leaders and 
in such a cause ; but unfortunately he was prevailed 
upon by his old commander to accept the appoint- 
ment of commandant of arms, or military governor, 
of the town and province of Coquimbo, a very desira- 
ble part of the country, and a situation of emolument, 
as well as, at that time, of great responsibility. To a 
young officer, with an increasing family and limited 
means, the offer was too tempting to be refused, 
although he never entertained a favorable opinion of 
General Freire's abilities, giving him credit only for 
good intentions. He was at Valparaiso, preparing to 
embark for Coquimbo, when Freire arrived in the 
former town, Prieto having, as Colonel Tupper had 
all along foreseen and apprehended, attempted to take 
him prisoner, and compelled him to seek security in 
flight from the capital. In this manner Prieto ob- 
tained possession of a fine park of field artillery, and 
incorporated the constitutional cavalry with his own. 
Among other charges of duplicity, General Freire 
accused Prieto, in a letter of January 1 8th, which 
was published, of having excited the authorities of 
Coquimbo not to receive Colonel Tupper, whom he 
had destined for that command in the conviction that 
he was best fitted for it. Colonel Tupper, now bound 
in honor not to abandon Freire in his difficulties, 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 91 

very reluctantly resumed the command of his batta- 
lion, and proceeded with it to Conception, which 
province was in favor of the liberal party. The three 
battalions of infantry, which had fought against Prieto 
on the 14th of December, followed the fortunes of 
Freire ; each, previously to their departure from Val- 
paraiso, issued a manifesto to the citizens, and we 
translate that of Pudeto, or No. 8, which was by far 
the most poignant and uncompromising ; and although 
written in an inflated tone of defiance, the language 
was well suited to the Spanish character of those to 
whom it was addressed. 

" The battalion of Pudeto, ever faithful to its oaths, 
swears to maintain the constitution. Fellow citizens, 
confide in its honor which has never been violated. 
Enemies of order, tremble : you well know Pudeto. 

" His Excellency Captain- General Freire leads us to 
victory. His name electrifies the hearts of the brave, 
and guarantees the pacific citizen in his employments. 

" The infamous Prieto will be for ever intimidated ; 
this soldier without honor, who, deriding in repeated 
instances the most sacred engagements, aspires to 
despotism by the most unjust means. 

"Valparaiso, 27th January, 1830."* 

Prieto doubtless never forgave this fearless, but 
perhaps imprudent, mention of his treachery, and 
probably the commandant of the battalion was from 
that moment marked out as the object of his san- 
guinary vengeance. 

Colonel Tupper described the voyage to Conception 
as the most comfortless and painful he had ever made, 
and after landing at the island of Juan Fernandez for 

* Vide Appendix C, No. 4. 



92 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

water, it was by mere hazard that they escaped cap- 
ture by the Achilles, a very large 20-gun brig, in 
possession of Prieto's party. While commanding at 
Talcahuano, the seaport of the city of Conception, he 
attempted to carry by boarding, during the night of 
the 17th of February, the same Achilles, which was 
then blockading the harbour, and whose crew were 
unconscious of the meditated attack. He set out 
with six boats and about eighty men, but after traver- 
sing the whole of the extensive bay, the captain of 
the port was unable to find the object of their search, 
although she was at anchor. Two of the boats 
having separated, Colonel Tupper concealed himself 
all the next day, with the four others, in the small 
and picturesque cove of Tome,* surrounded by rocks 
and immense trees, with a little village in the upper 
corner, almost hid in the foliage. From hence he 
wrote to Colonel Viel, who was in the neighbourhood, 
for a reinforcement to be sent to the rendezvous at 
the small island of Quinquina. This reinforcement 
of four boats arrived, and on the night of the 18th he 
returned again to the attack, with eight boats and 
about one hundred and thirty men ; but the enemy 
was now perfectly prepared, and he was repulsed 
with the loss of seven men killed and twenty- three 
wounded, and one of the boats sunk by a cannon 
ball. It deserves to be recorded, as an instance of 
the reckless courage of British sailors, that twelve of 
the crew of an English whaler in the bay volunteered 
to accompany him, and on these men he placed his 
chief dependance, well knowing that soldiers, however 
brave, are not fitted for such a service. These sailors 
did not deceive him, — they were in fact almost the 

* Captain Basil Hall's Journal contains a description of the bay of Talcahuano. 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 93 

only men who boarded, and one was killed and five 
wounded. Indeed, had all done their duty, the brig 
might possibly have been carried, but some of the 
boats remained behind, and only three approached 
near enough to be of any service. The commander 
of the whaler was the first who ascended the side, — 
Colonel Tupper the second. The former escaped 
with two slight wounds, — the latter's left hand was 
pierced by a pike ; his sleeve was perforated by a 
bullet from a musket, the muzzle of which almost 
touched him ; and he was then knocked overboard 
head foremost by a violent blow on the breast, but 
being an admirable swimmer, he reached a boat at 
some distance, so weak and exhausted, however, from 
the effects of the contusion, that he was unable to get 
in alone. The English captain arrived first at Talca- 
huano, and stated that Colonel Tupper was dead, as 
he had seen him fall wounded into the sea. When 
the latter at length appeared, he found his soldiers in 
tears, and even their wives were uttering loud cries ; 
but on seeing him, they and the officers rent the air 
with their acclamations, and welcomed him as one 
risen from the dead. Numbers had come from Con- 
ception to the port, a distance of twelve miles, to 
make inquiries relative to his fate, and in that city, 
whither a messenger was instantly dispatched, the 
church bells were rung to celebrate his return. The 
report of his death was quickly conveyed to Santiago, 
and of such consequence was it deemed by the oppo- 
site party, that they evinced their joy by music and 
bonfires in the streets ; while at Valparaiso, they were 
barbarous enough to proceed to the lodgings of his 
wife, and under the windows to proclaim the fate of 
her husband. But when his safety was ascertained, 



94 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

some verses were published on ' ' La Muerte del Coro- 
nel Tupper," in ridicule of this premature rejoicing, 
and in exultation at his escape. 

Having recovered from his wounds, Colonel Tupper 
proceeded northwards to Chilian, which town was 
garrisoned by three hundred and fifty hostile infantry. 
Its reduction was highly desirable, and Colonel Viel, 
the superior in rank, thought that by taking an out- 
work, they would be enabled to command the main 
defences of the place. Accordingly, on the night of 
the 9th of March, Colonel Tupper made the attack 
indicated with one hundred and forty-six old and 
tried soldiers of his battalion, all he had with him, 
and they carried the outwork by assault, although 
strongly entrenched and bravely defended. But as 
the garrison retired into an inner fortification, which 
could not be reached by musketry, it became neces- 
sary to abandon the redoubt, after sustaining a severe 
loss of good soldiers, who could but ill be spared at 
that moment. Two of his officers were severely 
wounded, one the brave Captain Sayago. Colonel 
Tupper was also much exposed in this affair, as, ever 
prodigal of his person, he was one of the first to 
mount the ladders amid a shower of bullets. Two 
days after, in a letter to his wife, he assured her that, 
unless in the event of a foreign invasion, this cam- 
paign would be the last he would make, and added : 
" Enfin, il me restait ce compromis avec le General 
Freire, — il a fallu le remplir, — je sais que j'ai pousse 
la delicatesse tres-loin, — en tout cas, je ne serai que 
plus digne de toi." 

General Freire, having been repulsed from Coquim- 
bo, landed near the river Maule, after sustaining the, 
to him, irreparable loss of a vessel laden with arms 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 95 

and ammunition, and was soon joined by Colonels 
Viel and Tupper, who found his troops badly clothed 
and paid, as he would not follow the example of his 
opponents, who impressed, without hesitation, every 
necessary supply for their army. They had, more- 
over, under their control all the resources of the 
capital, of which Freire had allowed himself so fool- 
ishly to be dispossessed ; and the infamous Prieto, # 
having organized a well-appointed force, commenced 
his march from Santiago for the south under highly 
favorable circumstances. The duplicity of this man, 
after he was so completely beaten on the 1 4th of 
December, could only be exceeded by the base collu- 
sion or extreme incapacity of those who treated with 
him. But it appears that he was only the willing 
tool of an unprincipled party, as he is represented as 
possessing neither military talents nor even personal 
courage ; and certain it is that his victory at Lircai 
was stained with that cruelty which is ever the at- 
tendant of cowardice. 

A battle, w T hich was to decide the fate of one party, 
and which, it was foreseen, would be very sanguinary, 
was near at hand. The hostile armies approached 
each other with highly exasperated feelings ; the 
chiefs of the one were conscious of their inferiority of 
force, but they burned to punish the treachery of 
which they were the victims, while those of the other 
well knew that they had forfeited all claim to honor- 
able treatment, and were anxious to wipe away the 
disgrace of their late defeat. The deep and rapid 
Maule, whose fords are not always practicable for 
cavalry, much less for infantry, now alone separated 
the combatants. Colonel Tupper requested to be al- 

* Prieto, in Spanish, signifies blackish, narrow-minded. 



96 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

lowed to cross over with a column of four or five 
hundred infantry, for the purpose of making a night 
attack on the enemy's camp, which, in the desperate 
state of affairs, was the best expedient that could be 
devised ; but unfortunately General Freire would not 
sanction the attempt, as, in the fatal persuasion that 
his popularity would carry him through the contest, 
he had allowed himself to be deceived by some of 
Prieto's chiefs, who, probably at the instigation of 
their general, had promised to join him with their 
troops at the first convenient opportunity. In conse- 
quence, Colonel Tupper is said, by one of his officers, 
to have been completely disgusted at Freire's evident 
infatuation or incapacity, and to have anticipated the 
fate which awaited him with gloomy resolution. He 
well knew that his enemies were too anxious for his 
death to show him any quarter, and as a husband 
and a father he could not but feel deeply the forlorn 
and desolate condition in which his death would leave 
his wife and children.* He had, however, gone too 
far to recede, and in any extremity his high sense of 
honor would have prevented his withdrawing himself 
on the eve of a battle from the cause he had espoused. 
On the 15th of April, 1830, General Freire crossed 
the river, and marched three leagues without obstruc- 
tion to Talca, the principal town of the province, 
beautifully situated midway on the high road from 
Santiago to Conception, and about two hundred miles 
from either city. Here his army was received with 
the greatest enthusiasm, and a council of war being 
called, it was resolved that, as the enemy was so 
much superior in cavalry and artillery, the consti- 

* Unhappily for him and for them, a letter from the editor, containing the 
offer of a very desirable situation in Rio de Janeiro, did not reach Chile till 
shortly after his death. 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 97 

tutional troops should remain in the vicinity of the 
town, where they could not be attacked but under a 
very great disadvantage, as Talca is skirted by enclo- 
sures and ditches. Had this decision been adhered 
to, Prieto must have retraced his steps towards the 
capital for want of forage and other supplies, and 
having necessarily to pass several defiles and rivers, 
he might have been much harassed in his retreat. 
On the 16th, Prieto endeavoured to bring on an 
engagement, but could not draw the constitutionalists 
from their vantage ground. Early on the 17th, 
General Freire proceeded, with Colonel Viel and the 
cavalry, to the adjoining plain of Cancharayada, for 
the purpose, we suppose, of making a reconnaissance ; 
but from some unexplained and unaccountable mo- 
tive, he sent suddenly for the remainder of his forces. 
It was on this plain that General San Martin manoeu- 
vred, in March, 1818, to bring the Spanish General 
Osorio to battle, but the latter being inferior in 
numbers, retreated southwards to the same position in 
front of Talca,* which Freire had just abandoned. 
Nothing could be more ill judged or imprudent, as 
his army, which consisted of about seventeen hun- 
dred men, had only two weak squadrons of regular 
cavalry and four pieces of artillery, while that of 
Prieto, amounting to fully two thousand two hun- 
dred men, had eight hundred veteran cavalry, and 
eleven or twelve pieces of artillery. The Chile cavalry 
is very formidable, the men being most expert riders, 
mounted on active and powerful horses, and generally 
armed with long lances, which they use with great 
dexterity. Prieto, observing this inexplicable move- 
ment, succeeded without difficulty in placing his troops 

* Vide Appendix C, No. 5.— Extract from Miller's Memoirs. 
G 



98 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

between the constitutional army and Talca. In this 
manner its return to the town was completely cut off, 
and it had to fight in an extensive open plain with 
the enemy in front, the flanks unprotected, and the 
river Lircai, a tributary of the Maule, close in the 
rear. The first shot was fired at half-past ten in the 
morning, and the action continued, with some inter- 
vals in effecting changes of position, until nearly four 
o'clock in the afternoon, when the rout was complete. 
The result is said to have been doubtful until two 
o'clock, at which period Freire's cavalry, which con- 
sisted of about six hundred men, including militia 
and Indians, and commanded by Colonel Viel, being 
decoyed too far in a charge, was taken in flank, and 
fled across the river Lircai, towards the north, com- 
pletely discomfited, and accompanied, we believe, by 
General Freire, who thus abandoned the infantry to 
its fate. The situation of the three weak battalions, 
Nos. 1, 7 and 8, was now indeed desperate, as the 
ground was so favourable to cavalry, and the neigh- 
bourhood offered them no accessible place of defence 
or refuge. To complete the disaster, their few pieces 
of artillery were yoked to oxen, which soon became 
furious and unmanageable, while that of Prieto, being 
drawn by horses, was moved quickly over the field. 
When they formed into squares to resist the hostile 
cavalry, they were mowed down by artillery, and, 
when they deployed into line, the cavalry was upon 
them. In this dreadful emergency they maintained 
the conflict for nearly an hour, with all the obstinacy 
of despair ; and at length, in attempting to charge in 
column, they were completely broken. There are 
two lines by the immortal Byron so concisely, and 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 99 

yet so faithfully, descriptive of a similar last effort, 
that we cannot avoid transcribing them : 

"One effort — one — to break the circling host! 
They form — unite — charge — waver — all is lost!" 

The loss in Freire's army fell chiefly on the devoted 
infantry, and appears to have exceeded considerably 
one third of the original number, including eighteen 
officers among the killed. The only officers mentioned 
as slain in Prieto's hurried dispatch of the 17th of 
April, are Colonel Elizalde, chief of the staff, Colo- 
nel Tupper, and his gallant Major Varela, a young 
man of five or six and twenty. Colonel Tupper is 
said to have exhibited the most reckless valour du- 
ring the day, and to have rallied his little battalion 
several times. Thrice he led it to the charge, and 
in the last charge he was slightly wounded in the 
foot by a spent cannon ball. Having previously 
dismounted to encourage his men, he was unable, 
in the mMee which succeeded , to find his horse ; and 
the accounts of the manner in which he got away, 
when all was lost, are so contradictory, that it is 
impossible to reconcile them. All agree, however, 
in stating that he was particularly sought after, 
and that a Major Baquedano* gave orders to his 
dragoons to show him no quarter. A party of these 
dragoons and some Indians overtook him, and find- 
ing that they would not spare his life, he reproached 
them with their brutality, and drew his sword to 

* This miscreant par excellence, it seems, had some private pique against 
Colonel Tupper, who had probably treated him with the contempt he de- 
served. His worthy chief, Prieto, promoted him after the battle for this 
acceptable service. Baquedano had been a domestic servant in the family of 
General Carrera, and boasted that he had killed a Spanish officer, a prisoner 
and defenceless, in the battle of Maipu. Long shunned by every man of 
honor, he was a disgrace even to the cause in which he served, and in 183L 
he was brought to a court martial by his own officers, for embezzling money 
from the regimental chest, but was of course acquitted. 



100 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

defend himself ; but being surrounded, an Indian 
from behind ran him through the body with his lance, 
when he fell, and a few sabre cuts soon terminated 
his sufferings. One of the barbarians immediately 
severed a finger, on which the victim wore a ring, 
and conveyed it to his commander as a proof that one 
they so much dreaded, would trouble them no more. 
A Captain Garcia, of Baquedano's regiment, who was 
also promoted after the battle, stood by during this 
barbarous murder, without interfering to prevent it. 
The corpse was sought out the next day by a friend, 
and interred in the spot on which the deceased 
breathed his last. # Another brave Englishman, Cap- 
tain Bell, of the Chilian navy, was also butchered 
in the pursuit. It was the general opinion, even of 
the natives themselves, that had Colonel Tupper 
commanded the army either on the 14th of December, 
near Santiago, or on this unfortunate day, a very 
different result would have awaited the constitutional 
cause. A private letter written by a gentleman in 
Chile, the charge d'affaires of the United States of 
America, and which was never intended to meet the 
eye of the family, as it was addressed to a British 
officer commanding a ship on the South American 

* Nearly three years after, the corpse was exhumed for the purpose of 
being conveyed to the capital for interment ; but being found in an extraor- 
dinary state of preservation, it was, for the convenience of carriage, con- 
sumed to ashes, which, on the 1st of February, 1833, were deposited in a 
plain monument raised to his memory in the pantheon of Santiago, with the 
following simple inscription : — 

A LA MEMORIA 

DEL CORONEL 

GUILLERMO DE VIC TUPPER, 

NACIO EN Gl'ERNSEY, EL XXIX DE ABRIL, M.DCCC, 

MURIO EL XVII DE ABRIL, M.DCCC. XXX. 

"patriae infelici fidelis," were to have been added, but some of the 
rival party having declared that they would deface this motto, it was neces- 
sarily omitted by the widow, although she was strongly importuned by many 
to inscribe it. 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 101 

station, also a perfect stranger, thus speaks of their 
unfortunate relative : — 

" The heroism displayed by Tupper surpassed the 
prowess of any individual that I ever heard of in 
battle ; but, poor fellow ! he was horribly dealt with 
after getting away with another officer. A party of 
cavalry and Indians was sent in pursuit, and they 
boast that poor Tupper was cut to pieces. They 
seemed to be more in terror of him, on account of his 
personal bravery and popularity, than of all the others. 
Guernsey has cause to be proud of so great a hero, — 
a hero he truly was, for nature made him one." 
And an English gentleman, holding a high consular 
appointment in that country, also wrote: — " I trust 
you will believe that any member of the family of 
Colonel Tupper, who may require such services as 
I am at liberty to offer, will be always esteemed by 
one, who for many years has looked upon his gallant 
and honorable conduct as reflecting lustre upon the 
English name in these new and distant states." 

Thus perished, at the early age of twenty-nine, one 
who, if he did not fall in the service of his own 
country, at least did honor to that country in a 
foreign clime. From his earliest youth he gave 
indications of that fearless and daring spirit which 
marked his after-life ; and when he left Europe he 
was generally thought to bear a striking resemblance 
to his late uncle, Major-General Brock, at the same 
age. This similarity extended in some degree even 
to their deaths, as the Indians of either continent 
were employed as auxiliaries in the actions in which 
they fell, and both were killed in the months that 
gave them birth. It was observed of Colonel Tupper 
by no mean judge, in the early part of his career: 

C'est un officier a toute epreuve, qui reunit a sa 



102 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

brillante valeur des connaissances tres-distinguees." — 
His tall, manly, and strikingly handsome person, 
his almost Herculean strength, the elegance of his 
manners, and his impetuous valour in battle, gave the 
impression rather of a royal knight of chivalry, than 
of a republican soldier.* The influence and popularity 
which in a few short years he acquired in his adopted 
country, by his own unaided exertions, and under 
the many disadvantages of being a stranger in a 
strange land, best prove that his talents were of the 
first order, and that he was no common character. 
The attachment of his men to him was constant and 
unbounded, for he not only possessed that bravery 
which, with the brave, is the surest passport to 
affection, but that kindness of heart which ever wins 
a way to the human breast. The union of so many 
excellent qualities, joined to his previous services to 
Chile, ought at least to have procured him quarter; 
but unfortunately in civil wars, they who aim at arbi- 
trary power seldom spare any one who may success- 
fully oppose their despotic views, and both gratitude 
and humanity would fain throw a veil over his last 
moments. He deserved far better than to have fallen 
by the order of a band of assassins, whose cause and 
conduct were in every way worthy of so foul a deed. 
The opinion of his friends, however, will correct the 
errors of fortune, which denied him a better field for 
the exercise of his endowments. He is dead, but his 
memory lives, and though his mangled corse now lies 
far from the tombs of his forefathers, 

" Unknell'd, uncoffin'd, and unknown." 

yet it is some melancholy consolation to his deeply 

* In height he was about six feet two inches, and his figure was a perfect 
model of strength and symmetry. His countenance was benign and " pleinc 
de franchise," — his complexion florid, — and he had a profusion of beautiful 
dark chesnut hair. 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 103 

afflicted family to reflect, that he is not lamented 
by them only, and that his false, perjured, blood- 
thirsty murderers cannot deprive their unhappy vic- 
tim of his fair name. But, as a French traveller 
wrote of him, "N'est-il pas deplorable que de tels 
homines en soient reduits a se consacrer a une cause 
etrangere ?"* 

Colonel Tupper married, at Santiago, in 1826, 
Maria Isidora de Zegers,f a native of Madrid, and 
grand -daughter of Manuel de Zegers, Count de 
Waserberg, in Flanders. He left two infant daugh- 
ters , and his young widow, from whom his death was 
kept concealed for some time, gave birth a few weeks 
after to a son, who, it is to be hoped, will resemble 
his father in every thing but his misfortunes. The 
British and a few of the foreign merchants in Chile, 
most liberally united to present the unhappy widow 
with some solid proof of the estimation in which they 
held the worth and gallantry of her unfortunate 
husband, and being joined by a small number of the 
natives, the amount raised was about seven thousand 
dollars, several of the English contributing five 
hundred dollars each. — An act of such unusual gene- 
rosity should not go unrecorded, as, while it redounds 
so much to the credit of those engaged in it, it speaks 
volumes in favour of the deceased. 

Of the fatality attending some families there are 
many melancholy proofs on record, but perhaps few 
instances of modern date will exceed, in the number 
of victims, the following series, which may not prove 
uninteresting even to the general reader. It has al- 
already been mentioned that Colonel Tupper was one 

* Vide Appendix C, No. 9. 
t Her mother was a Monte-negro, of the noble family of that name, in Spain. 



104 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

of ten brothers. The eldest, John, a contemporary of 
Lord Byron at Harrow, perished at sea, in the Medi- 
terranean, in 1812, aged twenty ; the vessel in which 
he was a passenger from Catalonia to Gibraltar having 
never been heard of since.* The third brother, William, 
aged twenty-eight, was mortally wounded near Can- 
dia, in 1826, as related in the preceding memoir. The 
fourth, Charles, aged sixteen, a midshipman of the 
Primrose, a fine 18-gun brig, was drowned in 1815 
at Spithead, by the upsetting of the boat in which he 
was accompanying his commander, Captain C. G. R. 
Phillott, from Portsmouth to the ship at St. Helen's ; 
he had just returned from the North American station, 
where the crew of the Primrose had been actively 
engaged during the war, in the destruction of priva- 
teers and in boat expeditions. The fifth brother, 
De Vic, is the subject of this memoir. The sixth, 
Brock, aged thirty, died in 1833, on board H. M's. 
packet Rinaldo, on his passage from Rio de Janeiro 
to Falmouth, for change of climate, and his remains 
were committed to the deep. The seventh, Frederick, 
when only nine years of age, was brought home insen- 
sible and speechless, and apparently at the point of 
death, having, in an attempt to reach the mast head 
of a vessel in the pier of Guernsey, fallen about twenty- 
five feet head foremost on the edge of the quay, 
whence he rebounded off into the harbour at low 
water, a further distance of sixteen feet : his skull was 
frightfully fractured and indented, and his life des- 
paired of for some time. A young officer of the 45th 
regiment, who was betrothed to their eldest sister, was 

* He went to the Peninsula with a friend of the family, Lieut.-Colonel 
Frederick Barlow, of the 6lst regiment, and with his first cousin, William 
Potenger. The former fell gallantly soon after, at the head of his battalion, 
and the latter, an officer of the 22d regiment, died of the fever at Jamaica. 



MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 105 

mortally wounded at the siege of Badajos, in 1812, 
— this bereavement, and the untimely end of so many 
of her brothers, undermined a naturally vigorous con- 
stitution, and hurried her prematurely to the grave : 
she died in December, 1830, and, possessing the 
graces both of mind and person, her memory is still 
fondly cherished by those who knew her worth. Of 
their uncles, four fell by the bullet, viz. their mother's 
brothers, Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, K. B., 
Lieut. -Colonel John Brock, and Lieutenant Ferdinand 
Brock, and their father's brother, William De Vic 
Tupper, Esq., as already mentioned. Another near 
relative, Lieutenant Carre Tupper, of the Victory, 
Lord Hood's flag ship, and only son of Major-General 
Tupper, was also slain in the Mediterranean : after 
distinguishing himself at Toulon and being in con- 
sequence assured of the first commander's vacancy, 
he volunteered to bring off an enemy's sentinel from 
Bastia to the fleet, for the purpose of gaining intel- 
ligence, and was shot dead in the gallant but des- 
perate attempt. 

General Freire, irretrievably undone by the defeat 
at Lircai, was discovered some weeks subsequently 
in concealment at or near Santiago, and banished 
to Peru ; while Colonel Viel, after capitulating with 
the remnant of the cavalry, with which he escaped to 
the northward of the capital, was compelled to take 
refuge on board a French ship of war at Valparaiso, 
Prieto having again attempted to violate the treaty 
between them. His desertion of the infantry in the 
hour of need perhaps could not be avoided, as he 
may have been unable to prevent the shameful flight 
of the cavalry, but his behaviour on this day, as 
well as on the 14th of December, will not tend to 



106 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER. 

establish a military reputation, which appears to have 
been previously somewhat equivocal. Of Freire's 
inexplicable movements at Lircai we would fain 
speak with leniency : he is in exile, and as he was 
even more sinned against than sinning, our feelings 
towards him are those of commiseration, not of 
resentment, — but manifest it is that as at the com- 
mencement of the unfortunate contest, his conduct 
was weak and vacillating, so at its melancholy ter- 
mination it was marked neither by ordinary prudence 
nor capacity, and that an onset of tergiversation was 
succeeded by a close of disastrous unskilfulness, to 
both of which the constitutional cause and many 
of its supporters were sacrificed. Prieto was elected 
president of Chile in 1.831, as the reward of his 
perfidy, although the liberal and enlightened Chilenos 
were decidedly averse to the change of rulers thus 
forcibly effected. When the country is more worthy 
of liberty, the people will achieve it ; but until then, 
it is neither to be expected nor desired that a party, 
whose cause was so wretchedly mismanaged during 
this unhappy contest, will succeed in returning again 
to power. Despotism is ever vigilant, while freedom 
too often slumbers in fancied security, — the one main 
tains itself by its fears, the other is frequently lost by 
its fearlessness, — but as a government based on deceit, 
inhumanity, and violence, can nourish only for 3 
season, those who would break the chains which now 
bind Chile in thraldom may be assured, that 

" They never fail who die 

In a great cause: the block may soak their gore; 

Their heads may sodden in the sun, their limbs 

Be strung to city gates and castle walls — 

But still their spirit walks abroad ! ! " 

Byron. 

February, 1832. 



Note. — April, 1835. — As the reader may wish to know the 
present political state of Chile, the editor subjoins the following 
extract from the last letter which he has received from that country, 
and dated Santiago, 22d September, 1834 : — "I am happy to say 
that the country still enjoys perfect quiet. Liberal ideas, and the 
freedom of the press, are daily becoming more unknown. The 
power of the priesthood is every where unchecked ; but you know 
too well the value of tranquillity to us foreigners in these countries 
to suppose that we repine." 

" Amongst the guests was a Chileno who had been in the United 
l States as charge d'affaires. Speaking of our country, and those 
i things which struck him as curious, he told the gentlemen that our 
! ' prisons are secure without military guards, and that he had seen 
| no soldiers in the country except the volunteer corps on holidays :' 
[ contrasted with the countries of South America, where even the 
municipal police consists of soldiers, this circumstance is striking. 
This gentleman remarked farther, that ' previous to the revolution 
of 1829, Chile had advanced in slow sure steps; but since that 
period society had split into political parties, and the social inter- 
course created and cherished by the Sociedad Filarmonica had 
almost ceased.' 

" The Philharmonic Society was instituted in 1827, for improving 
and fostering the native taste for music, and creating a more gene- 
rally social intercourse." — Three Years in the Pacific, 1831-1834, 
by an Officer in the United States' Navy." 

From the same author we learn that, in the Chilian constitution 
of May 1833, it is decreed that the religion of the republic is " the 
Roman Catholic Apostolic. The nation protects it by all the 
means that conform to the spirit of the Evangelist, and will not 
permit the exercise of any other." 



MAJOR-GENERAL TUPPER. 



This officer, the third son of Daniel Tupper, Esq., by 
his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of E. Dobree, Esq., of 
Beauregard, was born in Guernsey, 25th September, 
1727, and was brother of E. Tupper,* jurat, grand- 
father of the subjects of the two preceding memoirs. 
He obtained his commission by purchase in General 
Churchill's regiment of marines, that corps being 
then somewhat differently constituted to what it is 
now ; and it also then appears to have been a more 
favorite service, although none has ever been more 
distinguished, as in the annual army list for 1777 
we find the only six majors to be 

John Tupper Mar.30, 1771 

Hon. Frs. Napier . . July 21, 1771 
John Hughes Apr. 12, 1773 



William Souter . . . July 27, 1 77 o 
Hon. J. Maitland . . Oct. 1 , 1 775 
Alexander Trotter . Nov. 15, 1775 



Major Tupper was employed in North America at 
the commencement of the revolutionary war, and he 
succeeded to the command of the marines, of whom 
there were two battalions at Bunker's Hill, in 1 775, 
after the fall of the gallant Major Pitcairn, when he 
was honorably mentioned in the general orders of the 
day. A bullet grazed his right cheek, and drew 
blood. In this sanguinary attack the marines behaved 
with their usual gallantry, and it was they who, after 
the regiments of the line had been twice repulsed by 
a most murderous fire, carried the provincial defences 
by storm. Cooper, the American novelist, in his 

* See page 48. 



110 MAJOR-GENERAL TUPPER. 

"Lionel Lincoln," thus describes a scene in the 
battle : — 

" Push on with the th ! " cried the veteran major of marines 

— " push on, or the 18th will get the honor of the day J" 

" We cannot," murmured the soldiers of the th ; " their 

fire is too heavy !" 

" Then break, and let the marines pass through you." * 

The feeble battalion melted away, and the warriors of the deep, 
trained to conflicts of hand to hand, sprang forward, with a shout, 
in their places. The Americans, exhausted of their ammunition, 
now sunk sullenly back, a few hurling stones at their foes, in 
desperate indignation. The cannon of the British had been 
brought to enfilade the short breast-work, which was no longer 
tenable ; and as the columns approached closer to the low ram- 
part, it became a mutual protection to the adverse parties. 

" Hurrah ! for the Royal Irish !" again shouted M'Fuse, rushing 
up the trifling ascent, which was but of little more than his own 
height. 

"Hurrah!" repeated Pitcairn, waving his sword on another 
angle of the work — "the day's our own !" 

One more sheet of flame issued out of the bosom of the work, 
and all those brave men, who had emulated the examples of their 
officers, were swept away, as if a whirlwind passed along. The 
grenadier gave his war-cry once more, and pitched headlong among 
his enemies ; while Pitcairn fell back into the arms of his own 
child. The cry of " Forward, 47th ! " rang through the ranks, 
and in their turn this veteran battalion mounted the ramparts. In 
the shallow ditch Lionel passed the expiring marine, aud caught 
the dying and despairing look from his eye, and in another instant 
he found himself in the presence of his foes. As company followed 
company into the defenceless redoubt, the Americans sullenly 
retired by its rear, keeping the bayonets of the soldiers at bay, with 
clubbed muskets and sinewy arms. When the whole issued upon 
the open ground, the husbandmen received a close and fatal fire 
from the battalions, which were now gathering around them on 
three sides. A scene of wild and savage confusion succeeded to the 
order of the fight, and many fatal blows were given and taken, the 
m4Ue rendering the use of fire-arms nearly impossible for several 
minutes. 

* This circumstance, as, indeed, most of the others, is believed to be 
accurately true. 



MAJOR-GENERAL TUPPER. Ill 

Major Tupper was promoted about two years after, 
and on the 1 6th May, 1781, obtained the rank of 
colonel. In the life and correspondence of Lord 
Rodney we find two letters in the second volume, of 
which the following are extracts : — 

Sik George Rodney to Philip Stephens, Esq., Secretary of 
the Admiralty. 

Arrogant, Cawsand Bay, 
30th Dec. 1781. 

On considering the great number of marines belonging to the 
fleet their Lordships have put under my command, and that the 
very important service on which I am ordered may render it neces- 
sary for his Majesty's service to land bodies of them to attack the 
public enemy, and co-operate with his Majesty's land forces, I must 
beg leave to suggest to their lordships the utility of field-officers to 
command the different bodies of marines that it may be necessary 
to land in the different operations in which I may be employed. 

Experience has taught me that captains of marines are not 
proper officers to command large detachments of troops, and that 
discipline is not so well maintained as when field-officers of rank 
command them. I therefore hope their lordships will take the 
matter into consideration, and that I shall have the pleasure of 
seeing marine field-officers arrive in the West Indies in the squa- 
dron which their lordships have appointed to follow me. 

I will venture to affirm that it will be attended with great 
consequences to his Majesty's service, and may prevent much 
confusion, whenever it may be necessary to employ the marines 
on shore. 

Earl of Sandwich to Sir George Rodney. 

January 2d, 1782. 

Though I hope this letter will not find you still at Plymouth, I 
cannot avoid letting it take its chance, in order to tell you that I 
entirely approve of your idea of having some field-officers of 
marines. We shall therefore give immediate orders, that three 
field-officers of that corps do either go with you, or come out in the 
next ships that are ordered to join you. 

Colonel Tupper was in consequence selected to 
command the marines in the fleet, consisting of nearly 
forty sail of the line, ten or twelve frigates, and seve- 



112 MAJOR-GENERAL TUPPER. 

ral smaller vessels ; and taking his passage in the 
Duke, of 90 guns, Captain Gardner, he arrived in the 
West Indies in March, and thus participated in the 
victory of 12th April, 1782, over the French fleet, 
being on board the Repulse, 64, Captain Dumaresq. 
Sir George Rodney had at once offered him a birth 
on board his flag ship, but as Captain Dumaresq was 
an intimate friend, he requested permission to join 
the Repulse. Colonel Tupper became a major-general 
on the 12th October, 1793, and, having attained the 
rank of commandant in chief of the marines, he died 
in London in January, 1795, his decease being pro- 
bably hastened by the fall of his only son, at Bastia, 
a few months previously. 

Major General Tupper married, at Cork, Ann Chil- 
cott, the daughter of a gentleman who had been 
a captain in the fusileers. He had two children, 
Carre* and Ann ; the latter, famed for her beauty, 
survived him, — she was the wife of Lieut. -Colonel 
'Connell, of the Limerick militia. 

Subjoined is an extract from the London Star of 
19th November, 1794 :— 

The marine corps feel the utmost satisfaction at the appoint- 
ment of Major-General Tupper to be colonel commandant of that 
corps, in the room of the late Lieut. -General Smith. 

On Friday last the officers of the Chatham division, which 
General Tupper has for some time commanded with great credit 
and honor to himself, waited on him in a body to congratulate him 
on his appointment, and to express their sincere acknowledgments 
for his kind and polite attentions to them, so uniformly and happily 
blended upon every occasion with the due and necessary authority 
of military discipline. On Saturday the officers gave a dinner to 
the general, at their mess-room, on his resignation of the divisional 
command to Colonel Barclay until the arrival of Major-General 
Innes, who is appointed to it. 

* So named from Mr. Carre, his mother's uncle, and a wealthy banker 
in Dublin. 



LIEUT. CARRE TUPPER, of H. M. S. VICTORY. 



A brief mention is made of this officer at page 105. 
He was born on the 11th February, 1765, and ob- 
tained his lieutenantcy in 1782, at the early age of 
seventeen, but the peace between 1783 and 1793 
retarded his further advancement. Soon after the 
declaration of the war in 1793, he was actively em- 
ployed in the Mediterranean, and he had already given 
fair promise of reaching the summit of his profession 
when he was suddenly cut off at Bastia, in the island 
of Corsica. We have heard that he was, unknown to 
himself, a commander, having been promoted by the 
admiralty for his recent services at Toulon ; and it is 
certain that Lord Hood, from the same cause, promised 
him the first commander's vacancy, which occurred a 
very few days after his death, and which was given 
in consequence to the present Vice-Admiral Sir John 
Gore, K.C.B., then also a lieutenant of the Victory. 
In person he was tall and remarkably handsome, and 
" Tupper was a dashing, gallant fellow," was an ob- 
servation made to the editor by a distinguished British 
admiral, now living, who knew him. 

The following are extracts relative to his brief 
career : — 

From Sir Sidney Smith's official Letter to Admiral Lord Hood, describing 

the destruction of the ships and arsenal at Toulon, on the night of the 

18th December, 1793. 

In this situation we continued to wait most anxiously for the 
hour concerted with the governor for the inflammation of the trains. 
The moment the signal was made, we had the satisfaction to see 
the flames rise in every quarter. Lieutenant Tupper was charged 
with the burning of the general magazine, the pitch, tar, tallow, 
H 



114 LIEUT. CARRE TUPPER. 

and oil store houses, and succeeded most perfectly : the hemp 
magazine was included in this blaze. It being nearly calm was 
unfavorable to the spreading of the flames, but two hundred and 
fifty barrels of tar, divided among the deals and other timber, 
insured the rapid ignition of the whole quarter which Lieutenant 
Tupper had undertaken. 

From James' Naval History. Third Edition. 

After describing minutely the conflagration at Toulon, &c, the 
author adds : — 

As well as we can collect from the official accounts published on 
the subject, the following were the British naval officers who ac- 
companied Sir Sidney Smith in his perilous undertaking : Captains 
C. Hare and W. Edge, Lieutenants C. Tupper, John Gore, — 
(and several others whose names follow.) — Vol. I, page 114. 

At length on the 21st May, 1794, after a siege of thirty-seven 
and a negociation of four days, the town and citadel of Bastia, with 
the several posts upon the neighbouring heights, surrendered on 
terms highly honorable to the besieged, whose bravery in holding 
out so long excited the admiration of the conquerors. 

The possession of this important post was accomplished with the 
slight loss to the army of seven privates killed and dead of their 
wounds, two captains and nineteen privates wounded, and six pri- 
vates missing ; and to the navy, of one lieutenant (Carre Tupper, of 
the Victory,) and six seamen killed, and one lieutenant (G. Andrews, 
of the Agamemnon,) and twelve men wounded. — Ibid, page 272. 

Lieutenant Tupper was buried in a sequestered spot 
under the walls of Bastia, with this epitaph : — 

HERE LIES THE BODY OF 

CARRE TUPPER, ESQ. 

LIEUTENANT OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S SHIP 

VICTORY. 

HE WAS KILLED BY A MUSKET BALL 

IN BRAVELY ATTEMPTING TO LAND, 

DURING THE SIEGE OF BASTIA, 

ON THE 24th APRIL, 1794, 

AGED TWENTY -NINE YEARS. 

HIS ASSOCIATES IN ARMS 

DEEPLY REGRETTED AN EVENT 

WHICH DEPRIVED THEM OF 

AN INTREPID, EXCELLENT OFFICER, 

A WORTHY, AMIABLE MAN. 

HE WAS BORN THE 11th FEBRUARY, 1765. 



VISIT of INDIAN CHIEFS to GEORGE IV. 



Transcript of a Letter from Irving Brock, Esq., to Miss Caroline 
Titpper, dated London, April 12, 1825. 

" I went to Windsor on Wednesday last with the 

four Indians, accompanied by my friend Mr. W , 

to show them the castle, Frogmore, &c. ; but the 
chief object, which I had secretly in mind, was to 
have them introduced to his Majesty. Sir John 

C , the late mayor of Windsor, assisted me very 

effectually, and the upshot of the matter is, that the 
king expressed his desire to see the Indian chiefs, 
although every body treated this as a most chimerical 
idea. They wore, for the first time, the brilliant 
clothes which Mr. Butterworth had had made for 
them, and you cannot conceive how grand and impo- 
sing they appeared. 

' ' The king appointed half-past one on Thursday to 
receive our party at the royal lodge, his place of 
residence. We were ushered into the library ; and 
now I am going to say somewhat pleasing to your 

uncle Savery. As Sir John C was in the act 

of introducing me, but before he had mentioned my 
name, Sir Andrew Barnard interrupted him, and said : 
' There is no occasion to introduce me to that gentle- 
man, — I know him to be General Brock's brother, — 
he and Colonel Brock, of the 8 1st, were my most 
intimate friends, — I was in the 81st with the colonel. 
There was another brother whom I knew, — he who 
was also in the 49th, — he was a gallant fellow. By 



116 VISIT OF INDIAN CHIEFS. 

the bye, sir, I beg your pardon ; perhaps I am speak- 
ing to that very gentleman.' 

" In the library there was also present Marquess 
Conyngham, Lord Mount Charles, Sir Edmund Nagle, 
&c. &c. We remained chatting in the house above 
half an hour, expecting every moment to see the 
king enter, and I was greatly amused to observe 

Mr. W and Sir John C start and appear 

convulsed every time there was a noise outside the 
door. We were admiring the fine lawn when the 
Marquess Conyngham asked the Indians if they 
would like to take a turn, at the same time opening 
the beautiful door that leads to the lawn. The party 
was no sooner out than we saw the king standing 
quite still, and as erect as a grenadier on a field day, 
some forty yards from us. We were all immediately 
uncovered, and advanced slowly towards the hand- 
somest, the most elegant, the most enchanting man 
in the kingdom, the Indians conducted by Marquess 
Conyngham, Sir Edmund Nagle, Sir Andrew Barnard, 
Lord Mount Charles, &c. &c. The range of balconies 

was filled with ladies. Sir John C , Mr. W 

and I, allowed the party to approach his Majesty, 
while we modestly halted at a distance of twenty 
yards. It was worth while being there only to see 
the benign countenance of the greatest monarch in 
the world, and to witness his manner of uncovering 
his head. The four chiefs fell on their knees. The 
king desired them to rise, and entered into a great 
deal of preliminary conversation. I saw him turn 
towards the marquess, and after a few seconds he 
said, with his loud and sonorous voice : ■ Pray, Mr. 
Brock, come near me, — I pray you come near me.' 
I felt a little for my companions who continued un- 



VISIT OF INDIAN CHIEFS. 117 

noticed, and especially for Sir John C , to whom 

I was principally indebted for the royal interview. 

"The king addressed the Indians in French, very 
distinctly, fluently, and loud : ' I observe you have 
the portrait of my father ; will you permit me to 
present you with mine?' The marquess then pro- 
duced four large and weighty gold coronation peer 
medallions of his Majesty, suspended by a rich maza- 
reen blue silk riband. The chiefs, seeing this, dropped 
again upon their knees, and the king took the four 
medallions successively into his hand, and said : 
' Will some gentleman have the goodness to tie this 
behind ?' — upon which Sir Edmund Nagle, with whom 
we had been condoling on account of the gout, while 
waiting in the library, and who wore a list shoe, 
skipped nimbly behind the chiefs, and received the 
string from the king, tying the cordon on the necks 
of the four chiefs. We were much amused to observe 
how the royal word can dispel the gout. The instant 
the grand chief was within reach of the medallion, 
and before the investiture was completed, he seized 
the welcome present with the utmost earnestness, and 
kissed it with an ardour which must have been wit- 
nessed to be conceived. The king appeared sensibly 
affected by this strong and unequivocal mark of 
grateful emotion. The other chiefs acted in a similar 
way, and nothing could have been managed more 
naturally, or in better taste. After this ceremony 
the king desired them to rise and to be covered. 
They put on their hats, and which appeared extraor- 
dinary to me, his Majesty remained uncovered all the 
time. Here it was that the grand chief, as if inca- 
pable of repressing his feelings, poured out in a most 
eloquent manner, by voice and action, the following 



118 VISIT OF INDIAN CHIEFS. 

unpremeditated speech in his native Indian tongue. 
I say unpremeditated, because that fine allusion to 
the sun could not have been contemplated while we 
were waiting in the library, the room where we ex- 
pected the interview to take place. I was pleased to 
find that the presence of this mighty sovereign, who 
governs the most powerful nation upon earth, did not 
drive from the thoughts of the pious chief, the King 
of kings and the Lord of lords. 

"The instant he had finished, the chief of the 
warriors interpreted in the French language, and I 
wrote down the speech as soon as I left the royal 
lodge. It should be observed, that the chiefs had 
been previously informed by me that, according to 
etiquette, they should answer any questions which his 
Majesty might be pleased to ask, but not introduce 
any conversation of their own. The sun was shining 
vividly. 

THfi SPEECH. 

I was instructed not to speak in the royal presence, unless in 
answer to your Majesty's questions. But my feelings overpower 
me. My heart is full. I am amazed at such unexpected grace 
and condescension, and cannot doubt that I shall be pardoned for 
expressing my gratitude. The sun is shedding his genial rays upon 
our heads. He reminds us of the great Creator of the universe, — 
of Him who can make alive and who can kill. Oh ! may that 
gracious and beneficent Being, who promises to answer the fervent 
prayers of his people, bless abundantly your Majesty. May He 
grant you much bodily health, and, for the sake of your happy 
subjects, may He prolong your valuable life ! It is not alone the 
four individuals, who now stand before your Majesty, who will 
retain to the end of their lives a sense of this kind and touching 
reception, — the whole of the nations, whose representatives we are, 
will ever love and be devoted to you, their good and great father. 

" His Majesty felt deeply every word of the speech, 
when interpreted by the chief of the warriors. The 



VISIT OF INDIAN CHIEFS. 119 

king answered, that he derived high satisfaction from 
the sentiments they had expressed, and assured them 
that he should always be much interested in the hap- 
piness of his North American subjects, and would 
avail himself of every opportunity to promote their 
welfare, and to prove that he was indeed their father. 
After acknowledging in gracious terms the pleasure 
which the speech of the grand chief had afforded 
him, he mentioned, in an easy and affable manner, 
that he had once before in his life seen some indivi- 
duals of the Indian nations, but that was fifty-five or 
fifty- six years ago. He inquired of their passage to 
this country, the name of the ship and of the master, 
and was persevering in his questions as to the treat- 
ment they had experienced at his hands, whether they 
had been made comfortable in all respects, and if he 
had been polite and attentive. 

"While the grand chief was delivering his speech 
in the Huron language, it seemed as if it would never 
end, and, observing the king look a little surprised, 
I informed the Marquess Conyngham, in a loud whis- 
per, that this was the mode in which they expressed 
their sense of any honor conferred, and that the chief 
of the warriors would interpret the speech in the 
French language. The king asked me to repeat what 
I had been saying, and George and Irving conversed 
for some time. His Majesty, on another occasion, 
asked me under what circumstances the Indians had 
been introduced to me. I answered that they were 
recommended to my notice, because they had been 
invested with the medallions of his late Majesty by 
my brother. 

" His Majesty hoped the Indians had seen every 
thing remarkable in Windsor, and told us we were 



120 VISIT OF INDIAN CHIEFS. 

welcome to see the interior of the lodge and pleasure 
grounds, that Sir Andrew Barnard would accompany 
us everywhere, to his stables, menagerie, aviaries, &c, 
and afterwards he trusted we would partake of some 
refreshment. He also offered us the use of his car- 
riages. The refreshment was a truly royal repast, — 
we eat on silver, — the table groaned, as Mr. Heathfield 
would say, under the king's hospitality. We made a 
famous dinner, — pine apple, champagne, claret, &c. — 
servants in royal liveries behind our chairs. After 
dinner the Indians gave us the war song, when (in 
your uncle Savery's poetry about Maria Easy), 

Tho' the clogs ran out in a great fright, 
The ladies rush'd in with much delight." 

Note. — These four Indians came to England for the purpose of 
endeavouring to recover lands which had been given to their tribe 
by Louis XIV. but it appears that they did not succeed. They were 
very pious Roman Catholics, and those who saw them were much 
amused with their simple and primitive manners. — Ed. 



Extract of a Letter from. Walter Bromley, Esq., dated London, 
15th April, 1825. — From a Halifax N. S. newspaper. 

"The Indian chief, who accompanied me to Eng- 
land, sailed in the Ward, for New Brunswick, a few 
days ago, loaded with presents to his family and 
people. I think his appearance here has been more 
beneficial than if volumes had been printed on Indian 
civilization, and I am in hope that on both sides of 
the Atlantic a general sympathy has been excited. 
The four Canadian chiefs have attracted much atten- 
tion, and have been presented to his Majesty by the 
brother of the late General Brock ; they are the most 
interesting characters I ever saw, — are extremely 
polite, — and speak French very fluently." 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX A. 



SECTION I. — BRITISH AUTHORS. 

No. 1. 

Extract of a Letter to one of the Captains of the A^jth, at Fort George, 
dated Montreal, March 17, 1804. — See pp. 3 to 5. 
" The execution of the four mutineers and three deserters took 
place at Quebec on the 2d instant, and as I have a letter of the 3d, 
giving the most minute account that I have seen of it, I therefore 
transcribe part of the same to you. — * I embrace the earliest 
opportunity of saying that the seven mutineers and deserters were 
executed yesterday. At a quarter past ten, a.m., the procession 
moved off from the prison in the following order : — 

Two Bugle Horns. 

Major Campbell with a large party of the 41st as the advanced guard. 

Artillery with a Field Piece. 

The Firing Party, fifty-six in number. 

Seven Coffins borne by two men each. 

Escort with the Prisoners attended by four Roman Catholic Priests and the 

Rev. Mr. Mountain. 

Surgeons of the Garrison and Regiments. 

Band of Music of the 41st playing a Dirge. 

General Mann and Staff Officers of the Garrison. 

Field Piece. 

Colonel Glasgow with the main body of the Artillery. 

Field Piece. 

Colonel Proctor at the head of the 41st Regiment, with the Colours. 

M^jor Muter, of the Gth, with the two flank Companies of that Regiment. 

New Brunswick Volunteers, about seventy in number, without arms. 

'At about half-past ten they arrived on the ground, when the 
sentence and warrant of execution were read ; after which the 
prisoners about to suffer were led to their coffins, upon which they 
respectively kneeled : they were kept nearly three quarters of an 
hour in prayer, during which time the weather was very cold and 
bad, a strong wind blowing from the eastward with a great drift of 
snow. The whole was conducted with the greatest propriety till it 
came to the firing, when, by some mistake, instead of the party 



124 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

advancing to within eight yards of the prisoners and firing in three 
divisions, upon the signal being given for that purpose, the ser- 
geants, commanding the divisions, ordered the men to make ready, 
and immediately after about ten muskets in the centre went off ; 
this created confusion, and many other single shots were fired, and 
from a distance of at least fifty yards ; the consequence was, that 
the poor wretches fell one after another, and, being partially 
wounded, some of them cried out bitterly. Forty shots must have 
been fired before one poor fellow in the centre fell, although it 
appeared that he received a ball through the lower part of the belly 
on the first discharge, as he was seen to put his hands down and 
cry out : the party was now ordered up singly, that is, each man, 
who had not fired off his piece, went and lodged the contents of it 
in the breasts of the culprits, and by that means put them out of 
torture. It was on the whole an awful and affecting sight, and 
from the appearance of the soldiery, seemed to have made a very 
proper impression.' 

" Requesting my best compliments to Colonel Brock and the 
other gentlemen of the regiment, I remain," &c. 

No. 2. 

Extract from General Order, Head Quarters, Montreal, August 31, 
1812.— See p. 15. 
"Captain Pinkney, aid-de-camp to General Dearborn, arrived at 
nine o'clock last night, being the bearer of despatches from the 
commander in chief of the American forces, with the information 
that the president of the United States of America had not thought 
proper to authorise a continuance of the provisional measures entered 
into by his Excellency and General Dearborn, through the adjutant- 
general, Colonel Baynes, and that consequently the armistice was 
to cease in four days from the time of the communication reaching 

Montreal, and the posts at Kingston and Fort George That 

the conquest of the Canadas, either for the purpose of extending 
their own territories or of gratifying their desire of annoying and 
embarrassing Great Britain, was one amongst others of these objects, 
cannot be doubted. The invasion of the Upper Province, under- 
taken so immediately after the declaration of war, shews in the 
strongest manner how fully they had prepared themselves for that 
event, and how highly they had flattered themselves with finding it 
an easy conquest, from the supposed weakness of the force opposed 
to them, and the spirit of disaffection which they had previously 



APPENDIX A. 125 

endeavoured to excite amongst its inhabitants. Foiled as they 
have been in this attempt by the brave and united efforts of the 
regular forces, militia, and Indians of that province, under the 
command of their distinguished leader, their whole army with its 
general captured, and their only remaining fortress and post in the 
adjoining territory wrested from them, it is not to be doubted but 
that the American government will keenly feel this disappointment 
of their hopes, and consequently endeavour to avail themselves of 
the surrender of Detroit, to term it an invasion of their country, 
and to make it a ground for calling upon the militia to march to 
the frontiers for the conquest of the Canadas. A pretext so weak 
and unfounded, though it may deceive some, will not fail to be 
received in its proper light by others, and it will be immediately 
perceived by those who will give themselves the trouble to reflect 
on the subject, that the pursuit of an invading army into their own 
territory, is but a natural consequence of the first invasion, and the 
capture of the place to which they may retire for safety, a measure 
indispensably necessary for the security and protection of the 
country originally attacked." 

No. 3. 

Extracts of a Letter from Major Glegg to William Brock, Esq., 
dated York, Upper Canada, 25th October, 1812. 
"Since announcing to you on the 14th the heavy public and 
private loss that we sustained on the preceding day, by the fall of 
my beloved general, at the battle of Queenston, I have devoted 
every thought and moment to the painful discharge of my remaining 
duties. His funeral took place on the 16th, and a more solemn 
and affecting spectacle was perhaps never witnessed. I enclose a 
plan of the melancholy procession, but no pen can describe the 
real scenes of that mournful day. As every arrangement connected 
with that afflicting ceremony fell to my lot, a second attack being 
hourly expected, and the minds of all being fully occupied with the 
duties of their respective stations, I anxiously endeavoured to per- 
form this last tribute of affection in a manner corresponding with 
the elevated virtues of my departed patron. Conceiving that an 
interment in every respect military would be the most appropriate 
to the character of our dear friend, I made choice of a cavalier 
bastion in Fort George, which his aspiring genius had lately sug- 
gested, and which had been just finished under his daily superin- 
tendence. Not trusting, however, wholly to my own ideas on a 



120 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

point of so much interest, I consulted with Major- General Sheaffe 
and some other friends, who, I am happy to assure you, were 
unanimous in preferring military ground as the place of interment. 
His remains, by being always guarded by the respectful vigilance 
of admiring valour, will for ever remain sacred ; his public and 
private worth have been justly appreciated in this province, and 
the high character, which he so modestly supported when living, 
will remain recorded in the memory of those who survive him. 
Our lamented friend was interred with every military honor that 
was due to his exalted station ; at the same time recollecting his 
decided aversion to every thing that bore the appearance of osten- 
tatious display, 1 endeavoured to clothe the distressing ceremony 
conformably with his native simplicity. My gallant friend and 
colleague Lieut. -Colonel M'Donell, whose noble soul hurried him 
on to revenge the fall of our beloved chief, appeared determined to 
accompany him to the regions of eternal bliss. Wounded in four 
places, he was carried off the field, and, though one ball passed 
through his body, he survived twenty hours, and, during a constant 
period of excruciating suffering, his words and thoughts appeared 
ever occupied with lamentations for his lost friend. My heart is 
overpowered with sorrow when I reflect on that awful and eventful 
day. I can almost fancy I see and hear your brave brother's 
cheering voice when our small band of 49th heroes were a third 
time charging the enemy in the streets of Queenston, who were 
treble our numbers ; forgetful of himself, he was occasionally 
exhorting others to be more prudent, — everyone did more than his 
duty, — and alas ! in this glorious struggle for the country two heroes 
fell. They were deposited in the same grave close to each other." 

Note. — The contents of Major Glegg's first letter, dated Fort George, 
14th October, are embodied in Sir Isaac Brock's Memoir ; the remainder 
of the second letter, as above, relates chiefly to the private affairs of the 
general. — Ed. 

No. 4. 

Conclusion of Extract from Quebec Gazette of 29th October, 1812, 
given in pp. 20, 21. 
" It is indeed true that the spirit, and even the abilities, of a 
distinguished man often carry their influence beyond the grave, and 
the present event furnishes its own example, for it is certain, not- 
withstanding General Brock was cut off early in the action, that he 
had already given an impulse to his little army, which contributed 



APPENDIX A. 127 

to accomplish the victory when he was no more. Let us trust that 
the recollection of him will become a new bond of union, and that, 
as he sacrificed himself for a community of patriots, they will find 
a new motive to exertion in the obligation to secure his ashes from 
the pestilential dominion of the enemy. 

" General Brock was a native of Guernsey. His family always 
belonged to the profession of arms. He entered the army early in 
life, and has been continually on service during the last and present 
wars. He made several campaigns on the European continent, 
and particularly distinguished himself in Holland, where he had a 
horse killed under him. He was shortly afterwards employed on 
board the Ganges, with his favorite 49th regiment, in the battle of 
Copenhagen, on the famous 2d of April, 1801. In the following 
year he came to this country as lieutenant-colonel commanding 
that regiment. His strong attachment to it made it a distinguish- 
ing feature in his character. There was a correspondence of esteem 
and regard between him and his otficers and privates, with an 
addition of veneration on the part of these, that produced the 
picture of a happy family. Those movements of feeling, which the 
exactions of discipline will sometimes occasion, rarely reached his 
men. He governed them by that sentiment of esteem which he 
himself had created. The consolation was given him to terminate 
an useful and brilliant course in the midst of his professional family. 
They have performed his last funeral obsequies, and those who 
knew the commander and his men will be convinced that on the 
day of his interment there was an entire regiment in tears. 

" His fate has been attended by a circumstance almost intolerable 
to a high-minded soldier. His enemy was not worthy such a 
catastrophe. The spirit of the victim often rebuked the hard 
destiny that denied him a field where it might be desirable to die. 
But brave and generous Brock the opinion of your country shall 
correct the errors of fortune. It shall estimate your efforts the 
more for having been made against an enemy without reputation, 
though powerful, and who, in waging this war, has shewn how 
destitute he is of every principal element that can constitute true 
greatness. It shall grant you all the fame that manly courage and 
heroic enterprise, skilfully and successfully employed, have the 
power to yield. Monuments shall rise to your glory in the public 
square of that province you have twice saved, and under the dome 
of the first cathedral in Europe." 



128 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 



No. 5. 



"At a General Council of Condolence held at the Council House, Fort 
George, 6th November, 1812, 
"Present — The Six Nations, Hurons, Potawatimics, and 
Chippawas. 
William Claus, Deputy Superintendent-Gen 1 . 
Captain Norton. 
Captain J. B. Rosseaux, and several others 

of the Indian Department. 
Kasencayont Cayonga Chief, Speaker. 

" Brother, — The Americans have long threatened to strike us, 
and in the beginning of the summer they declared war against us, 
and lately they recommenced hostility by invading the country at 
Queenston. In this contest, which, with the help of God, termi- 
nated in our favor, your much lamented commander and friend 
General Brock, his aid-de-camp Colonel M'Donell, and several 
warriors, have fallen. 

" Brother, — We therefore now, seeing you darkened with grief, 
your eyes dim with tears, and your throats stopped with the force 
of your affliction, with these strings of wampum we wipe away 
your tears that you may view clearly the surrounding objects. We 
clear the passage in your throats that you may have free utterance 
for your thoughts, and we wipe clean from blood the place of your 
abode, that you may sit there in comfort, without having renewed 
the remembrance of your loss by the remaining stains of blood. 
Delivered eight strings of white wampum.* 

" Brother, — That the remains of our late beloved friend and 
commander General Brock shall receive no injury, we cover it 
with this belt of wampum, which we do from the grateful sensations 
which his kindness towards us continually inspired, as also in con- 
formity with the customs of our ancestors ; and we now express, 
with the unanimous voice of the chiefs and warriors of our respec- 
tive bands, the great respect in which we hold his memory, and the 

* Wampum is the current money among the Indians. It is of two sorts, 
white and purple : the white is worked out of the insides of the great Congues 
into the form of a bead, and perforated so as to be strung on leather; the 
purple is worked out of the inside of the muscle shell. They are wove as 
broad as one's hand, and about two feet long ; these they call belts, and give 
and receive them at their treaties, as the seals of friendship. For lesser 
motives a single string is given ; every bead is of a known value; and a belt 
of a less number is made to equal one of a greater, by so many as is wanted 
being fastened to the belt by a string.— Buchanan's North American Indians. 



APPENDIX A. 



129 



sorrow and deep regret with which his loss has filled our breasts, 
although he has taken his departure for a better abode, where his 
many virtues will be rewarded by the great Dispenser of good, who 
has led us on the road to victory. 

A large white belt. 

"Brother, — We now address the successor of our departed friend 
to express the confidence we feel that his heart is warmed with 
similar sentiments of affection and regard towards us. We also 
assure him of our readiness to support him to the last, and therefore 
take the liberty to speak strong to all his people to co-operate with 
vigour, and trusting in the powerful arm of God, not to doubt of 
victory. 

"Although our numbers are small, yet, counting Him on our 
side, who ever decides on the day of battle, we look for victory 
whenever we shall come in contact with our enemy. 
Five strings of white wampum. 

(Signed) "W. CLAUS, D. S. G." 

No. 6. 
IMPROMPTU 

ON READING THE ACCOUNT OF THE DEATH OF THE GALLANT 
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

Whence sprung that sigh of sorrow deep, 
Those plaints that pierce the troubled air ! 
Whose that fair form that seems to weep 
With tresses loose, and bosom bare ? 

Ah ! now I know that form divine, 
Whose looks her heartfelt grief declare ; 
Queen of the seagirt isle ! 'tis thine, 
And thine those plaints that pierce the air. 

Thou mourn' st thy brave defender's fate 
Far distant o'er yon western tide, — 
The victim of illiberal hate 
Fostered by French intrigue and pride ! 

Thou mourn'st the loss of valiant Brock, 
Chastiser of o'erweening pride, 
Who fell in battle's furious shock, 
By Niagara's thundering side ! 
I 



130 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

In freedom's cause the hero fell, — 

His relics rest on glory's bed ; 

Twice vanquished, let Columbia tell 

How gallantly he fought and died. hafiz. 

VERSES 

ON THE DEATH OF MAJOR-GENERAL BROCK. 

Low bending o'er the rugged bier 
The soldier drops the mournful tear, 
For life departed, valour driven, 
Fresh from the field of death to heaven. 

But time shall fondly trace the name 

Of Brock upon the scrolls of fame, 

And those bright laurels, which should wave 

Upon the brow of one so brave, 

Shall flourish vernal o'er his grave. J. ii. r. 

No. 7. 

Extracts from "James Military Occurrences of the late War between 
Great Britain and the United States of America." — 2 vols. 8vo. 
London, 1818. 

"Major-General Brock, the president of Upper Canada, was at 
York when the news of war reached him. He, with his accustomed 
alacrity, sent immediate notice of it to Lieut.-Colonel St. George, 
commanding a small detachment of troops at Amherstburg, and 
to Captain Roberts, commanding part of a company of the 10th 
R. V. battalion, at St. Joseph's. A second despatch to the last 
named officer contained the major-general's orders, that he should 
adopt the most prudent measures, either for offence or defence. 
Captain Roberts, accordingly, on the day succeeding the arrival of 
his orders, embarked with forty-five officers and men of the 10th 
royal veteran battalion, about one hundred and eighty Canadians, 
three hundred and ninety-three Indians, and two iron six pounders, 
to attack the American fort of Michilimacinac. This force reached 
the island on the following morning. A summons was immediately 
sent in j and the fort of Michilimacinac, with seven pieces of 
ordnance, and sixty-one officers and privates of the United States 
army, surrendered, by capitulation, without a drop of blood having 
been spilt. — Vol. I., pp. 56, 57. 



APPENDIX A. 131 

" General Brock had just arrived at Fort George from York, 
when he heard of General Hull's invasion. It was his intention to 
attack, and there is no doubt he would have carried, Fort Niagara ; 
but, Sir George Prevost not having sent him any official account 
of the war, nor any order to guide his proceedings, the general was 
restrained from acting according to the dictates of his judgment 
and the natural energy of his mind. After issuing a proclamation, 
to defeat the object of that circulated by General Hull, General 
Brock returned to York, to meet the legislature of Upper Canada ; 
which, on account of the war, he had called together for an extra 
session. This session was short ; and, on the 5th of August, the 
general again left York for Fort George, and for Long Point on 
Lake Erie. On the 8th he embarked at the latter place, with forty 
rank and file of the 41st regiment, and two hundred and sixty of 
the militia forces ; leaving the important command on the Niagara 
frontier to his quarter-master-general, Lieut.-Colonel Myers, an 
able and intelligent officer. 

" General Brock and his little party landed safe at Amherstburg 
on the evening of the 12th, when that enterprising officer lost not 
a moment, but, with the reinforcement he procured at this place, 
pushed on for Sandwich. Here he found that the Americans had 
evacuated and destroyed a small fort which they had constructed 
soon after their arrival. On the morning of the 15th, General 
Brock sent across a flag of truce, with a summons, demanding the 
immediate surrender of the garrison ; to which an answer was 
returned, that " the town and fort would be defended to the last 
extremity." That being the case, at four o'clock in the afternoon, 
the British batteries, which had been constructed for one eighteen 
pounder, two twelve pounders, and two 5^ inch howitzers, opened 
upon the enemy, and continued to throw their shells into the fort 
until midnight. One shell killed three or four officers, and pro- 
duced great alarm in the garrison. The fire was returned by seven 
twenty-four pounders, but without the slightest effect. 

"At daylight the next morning the firing recommenced ; and 
the major-general, taking with him thirty of the royal artillery, two 
hundred and fifty of the 41st regiment, fifty of the royal Newfound- 
land regiment, and four hundred militia, crossed the river, and 
landed at Springwell, a good position, three miles west of Detroit. 
The Indians, six hundred in number, under the brave Tecumseh, 
had effected their landing two miles below ; and they immediately 
occupied the woods about a mile and a half on the left of the army. 



132 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

The direction of the batteries on the opposite shore had, in the 
mean time, been left to an intelligent officer. 

" At about ten o'clock the troops advanced, in close column, 
twelve in front, along the bank of the river towards the fort, and 
halted at about a mile distant ; by which time the Indians had 
penetrated the enemy's camp. When the head of the British 
column had advanced to within a short distance of the American 
line, General Hull, and the troops under his command, retreated to 
the fort, without making any use of two twenty-four pounders, 
advantageously posted on an eminence, and loaded with grape shot. 

" Just as the British were about to commence the attack, a white 
flag was seen suspended from the walls of the fort. So unexpected 
a measure caused General Brock to despatch an officer in front, to 
ascertain the fact. Shortly afterwards the capitulation was signed ; 
and the fort of Detroit, its ordnance and military stores, a fine 
vessel in the harbour, the whole north-western army, including the 
detached parties, also the immense territory of Michigan, its forti- 
fied posts, garrisons, and inhabitants, were surrendered to the 
British arms. — Ibid, pp. CS to 70. 

"One reason for General Brock's marching so comparatively 
small a force against Detroit, was a deficiency of arms wherewith 
to equip the Upper Canada militia. Many of the latter were 
obliged, in consequence, to remain behind ; and even the arms that 
had been distributed among their companions, were of the very 
worst quality 5 so that General Hull's ' two thousand five hundred 
stands of arms,' which were indeed of the very best quality, became 
a valuable acquisition. The success that attended this first enter- 
prise in which the militia had been called upon to act, produced an 
electrical effect throughout the two provinces. It inspired the 
timid, settled the wavering, and awed the disaffected ; of which 
latter there were many. It also induced the Six Nations of Indians, 
who had hitherto kept aloof, to take an active part in our favor. — 
Ibid, pp. 73, 74. 

"Brigadier-General Hull was afterwards exchanged for thirty 
British prisoners ; and his trial commenced at Albany on the 5th 
of January, and ended on the 8th of March, 1814. The particulars 
may not be uninteresting, and are therefore extracted from the 
pages of Mr. O'Connor's book : — 

"'Three charges were presented against him ; to wit, treason 
against the United States ; coivardice ; and neglect of duty, and unofficer- 
like conduct; to all which he pleaded Not Guilty. — The general 



APPENDIX A. 133 

having protested against the competency of the court to try the 
first charge, the court declined making any formal decision on it ; 
but yet gave an opinion that nothing appeared to them which could 
justify the charge. 

" ' The court acquitted him of that part of the third specification, 
which charges him with having forbidden the American artillery to 
fire on the enemy, on their march towards the said Fort Detroit, 
and found him guilty of the first, second part of the third, and the 
fourth specifications. On the third charge, the court found the 
accused guilty of neglect of duty, in omitting seasonably to inspect, 
train, exercise, and order the troops under his command, or cause 
the same to be done. They also found him guilty of part of the 
fourth and fifth specifications, and the whole of the sixth and 
seventh ; and acquitted him of the second and third, and part of 
the fourth and fifth specifications. 

" ' The court sentenced the said Brigadier-General William Hull 
to be shot to death, two-thirds of the court concurring in the sen- 
tence ; but, in consideration of his revolutionary services, and his 
advanced age, recommended him to the mercy of the president of 
the United States. The president approved the sentence, remitted 
the execution, and ordered the name of General Hull to be erased 
from the list of the army.' — Ibid, pp. 75, 76. 

"The chagrin felt at Washington, when news arrived of the total 
failure of this the first attempt at invasion, was in proportion to 
the sanguine hopes entertained of its success. To what a pitch of 
extravagance those hopes had been carried, cannot better appear 
than in two speeches delivered upon the floor of congress, in the 
summer of 1812. Dr. Eustis, the secretary at war of the United 
States, said : ' We can take the Canadas without soldiers ; we 
have only to send officers into the provinces, and the people, 
disaffected towards their own government, will rally round our 
standard.' The honorable Henry Clay seconded his friend thus : 
'It is absurd to suppose we shall not succeed in our enterprise 
against the enemy's provinces. We have the Canadas as much 
under our command as she (Great Britain) has the ocean ] and the 
way to conquer her on the ocean is to drive her from the land. I 
am not for stopping at Quebec, or any where else ; but I would 
take the whole continent from them, and ask them no favors. Her 
fleets cannot then rendezvous at Halifax as now ; and, having no 
place of resort in the north, cannot infest our coast as they have 
lately done. It is as easy to conquer them on the land, as their 



134 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

whole navy would conquer ours on the ocean. We must take the 
continent from them. I wish never to see a peace till we do. God 
has given us the power and the means ; we are to blame if we do 
not use them. If we get the continent, she must allow us the 
freedom of the sea." This is the gentleman who, afterwards, in the 
character of a commissioner, — and it stands as a record of his 
unblushing apostacy, — signed the treaty of peace. 

" Upon Major-General Brock's arrival at Fort George, he first 
heard of that most impolitic armistice, which, grounded on a letter 
from Sir George Prevost to Major-General Dearborn, had been 
concluded between the latter and Colonel Baynes, Sir George's 
adjutant-general. It provided that neither party should act offen- 
sively before the decision of the American government was taken 
on the subject. To the circumstance of the despatch, announcing 
the event, not having reached the gallant Brock before he had 
finished the business at Detroit, may the safety of the Canadas, in 
a great measure, be attributed. The armistice was already suffi- 
ciently injurious. It paralyzed the efforts of that active officer, 
who had resolved, and would doubtless have succeeded, in sweeping 
the American forces from the whole Niagara line. It enabled the 
Americans to recover from their consternation, to fortify and 
strengthen their own, and to accumulate the means of annoyance 
along the whole of our frontier. It sent nearly eight hundred of 
our Indian allies, in disgust, to their homes. It admitted the free 
transport of the enemy's ordnance stores and provisions by Lake 
Ontario, which gave increased facility to all his subsequent opera- 
tions in that quarter. — Ibid, pp. 76 to 78. 

" This army, commanded by Major-General Van Rensselaer, of 
the New York militia, consisted, according to American official 
returns, of five thousand two hundred and six men ; exclusive of 
three hundred field and light artillery, eight hundred of the 6th, 
13th, and 23d regiments, at Fort Niagara ; making a total of six 
thousand three hundred men. Of this powerful force, sixteen hun- 
dred and fifty regulars, under the command of Brigadier- General 
Smyth, were at Black Rock ■ three hundred and eighty-six militia 
at the latter place and Buffaloe ; and nine hundred regulars, and 
two thousand two hundred and seventy militia, at Lewistown, dis- 
tant from Black Rock twenty-eight miles. So that, including the 
eleven hundred men at Fort Niagara, the Americans had, along 
thirty-six miles of their frontier, a force of six thousand three hun- 
dred men, of whom nearly two-thirds were regular troops ; while 



APPENDIX A. 135 

the British, along their line from Fort George, where Major-General 
Sheaffe commanded, to Fort Erie, whither Major-General Brock 
had just proceeded, could not muster twelve hundred men, nearly- 
half of whom were militia. — Ibid, p. 80. 

" The only British batteries from which the troops could be 
annoyed in the passage, were one, mounting an eighteen pounder, 
upon Queenstown heights, and another, mounting a twenty-four 
pound carronade, situate a little below the town. The river at 
Queenstown is scarcely a quarter of a mile in width, and the point 
chosen for crossing was not fully exposed to either of the British 
batteries ; while the American batteries of two eighteen and two 
six pounders, and the two six pounder field pieces, brought up by 
Lieut. -Colonel Scott, completely commanded every part of the op- 
posite shore, from which musketry could be effectual in opposing a 
landing. With these important advantages the troops embarked ; 
but, a grape shot striking the boat in which Lieut.-Colonel Christie 
was, and wounding him in the hand, the pilot and boatmen became 
so alarmed, that they suffered the boat to fall below the point of 
landing, and were obliged, in consequence, to put back. Two other 
boats did the same. The remaining ten, with two hundred and 
twenty-five regulars, besides officers, including the commander of 
the expedition, Colonel Van Rensselaer, struck the shore ; and, 
after disembarking the men, returned for more troops. 

" The only force at Queenstown consisted of the two flank com- 
panies of the 49th regiment, and a small detachment of militia ; 
amounting, in all, to about three hundred rank and file. Of these 
about sixty, taken from the 49th grenadiers and Captain Hatt's 
company of militia, having in charge a three pounder, advanced, at 
four o'clock in the morning, with Captain Dennis of the 49th at 
their head, towards the river, near to which Colonel Van Rensselaer 
had formed his men, to await the arrival of the next boats. A 
well directed and warmly continued fire killed and wounded several 
American officers and privates, including, among the wounded, 
Colonel Van Rensselaer and three captains, and drove the Ameri- 
cans behind a steep bank, close to the water's edge. In the mean 
time, a fresh supply of troops had effected a landing, and remained, 
with the others, sheltered behind the bank ; whence they returned 
the fire of the British, killing one man and wounding four. The 
remaining subdivisions of the 49th grenadiers and of the militia 
company had now joined Captain Dennis j and the 49th light in- 
fantry, under Captain Williams, with Captain Chisholm's company 



136 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

of militia, stationed on the brow of the hill, were firing down upofi 
the invaders. 

" Of five or six boats that attempted to land a body of American 
regulars under Major Mullany, one was destroyed by a shot from 
the hill battery, commanded by Lieutenant Crowther, of the 41st 
regiment ; two others were captured ; and the remainder, foiled in 
their object, returned to the American side. Daylight appeared ; 
and, at the same instant, General Brock arrived at the hill battery 
from Fort George. Observing the strong reinforcements that were 
crossing over, the general instantly ordered Captain Williams to 
descend the hill, and support Captain Dennis. No sooner were 
Captain Williams and his men seen to depart, than the Americans 
formed the resolution of gaining the heights. Accordingly, sixty 
American regulars, headed by Captain Wool, and accompanied by 
Major Lush, a volunteer, also by a captain, six lieutenants, and an 
ensign of the 13th regiment, ascended a fisherman's path up the 
rocks, which had been reported to General Brock as impassable, 
and therefore was not guarded. The Americans were thus enabled, 
unseen by our troops, to arrive at a brow, about thirty yards in the 
rear of the hill battery. Reinforcements kept rapidly arriving by 
the concealed path ; and the whole formed on the brow, with their 
front towards the village of Queenstown. 

"The moment General Brock discovered the unexpected advance 
of the American troops, he, with the twelve men stationed at the 
battery, retired ; and Captain Wool, advancing from the rear with 
his more than ten-fold force, ' took it without much resistance.' 
Captain Williams, and his detachment of regulars and militia, were 
now recalled ; and General Brock, putting himself at the head of 
this force, amounting, in all, to about ninety men, advanced to 
meet a detachment of one hundred and fifty picked American regu- 
lars, which Captain Wool had sent forward to attack him. The 
American captain says that, in consequence of the general's ' supe- 
rior force,' his men retreated ; adding, ' I sent a reinforcement, 
notwithstanding which, the enemy drove us to the edge of the 
bank.' While animating his little band of regulars and militia to 
a charge up the heights, General Brock received a mortal wound 
in the breast, and immediately fell. 

"At this moment the two flank companies of the York militia, 
with Lieut. -Colonel M'Donell, the general's provincial aid-de-camp, 
at their head, arrived from Brown's Point, three miles distant. By 
this time, also, Captain Wool had sent additional reinforcements to 



APPENDIX A. 137 

Captain Ogilvie, making the latter's force ' three hundred and 
twenty regulars, supported by a few militia and volunteers,' or, in 
the whole, full five hundred men. Colonel M'Donell and his one 
hundred and ninety men, — more than two-thirds Canadian militia, — 
rushed boldly up the hill, in defiance of the continued stream of 
musketry pouring down upon them ; compelled the Americans to 
spike the eighteen pounder ; and would have again driven them to 
the rocks, had not the colonel and Captain Williams been wounded, 
almost at the same instant, — the former mortally. The loss of 
their commanders created confusion among the men, and they 
again retreated. Hearing of the fall of General Brock, Captain 
Dennis proceeded from the valley towards the foot of the heights, 
and, mounting the general's horse, rode up, and tried to rally the 
troops. He succeeded in forming a few ; but the number was so 
inconsiderable that, to persist in a contest, would have been mad- 
ness. A retreat was accordingly ordered, by the ground in the 
rear of the town ; and the men of the 49th, accompanied by many 
of the militia, formed in front of Vromont's battery, there to await 
the expected reinforcement from Fort George. 

" While we had, at this period, not above two hundred unwounded 
men at Queen stown, the Americans, by their own account, had 
upwards of eight hundred, and General Van Rensselaer tells us, 
that ' a number of boats now crossed over unannoyed, except by 
the one unsilenced gun,' or that at Vromont's battery ; conse- 
quently, more troops were hourly arriving. Brigadier-General 
Wadsworth was left as commanding officer of the Americans on 
the Queenstown hill ; and General Van Rensselaer, considering the 
victory as complete, had himself crossed over, in order to give 
directions about fortifying the camp which he intended to occupy 
on the British territory. — Ibid, pp. 86 to 91. 

" When General Wilkinson complains that the executive has not 
rendered ' common justice to the principal actors in this gallant 
scene,' — not exhibited it to the country ' in its true light, and shewn 
what deeds Americans are still capable of performing,'* — who 
among us can retain his gravity ? ' It is true,' says the general, 
' complete success did not ultimately crown this enterprise ; but 
two great ends were obtained for the country : it re-established the 
character of the American arms;' — it did indeed ! — ' and deprived 
the enemy, by the death of General Brock, of the best officer that 

* From an American work, — Major-General James Wilkinson's "Memoirs 
of my own Time," published in 1816. 



138 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

has headed their troops in Canada throughout the war;' — truth 
undeniable ! — ' and, with his loss, put an end to their then brilliant 
career;' — yet the capture of General Wadsworth took place in less 
than live hours afterwards. 

" The instant we know what the Americans expected to gain, a 
tolerable idea may be formed of what they actually lost by the 
attack upon Queenstown. General Van Rensselaer, in a letter to 
Major- General Dearborn, written five days previously, says thus : 
' Should we succeed, we shall effect a great discomfiture of the 
enemy, by breaking their line of communication, driving their 
shipping from the mouth of this river, leaving them no rallying 
point in this part of the country, appalling the minds of the Cana- 
dians, and opening a wide and safe communication for our supplies ; 
we shall save our own land, — wipe away part of the score of our 
past disgrace, — get excellent barracks and winter quarters, and at 
least be prepared for an early campaign another year.' — Who could 
believe that this very letter is given at length in General Wilkin- 
son's book, and precedes, but a few pages, those ridiculous remarks 
into which an excess of patriotism had betrayed him. 

" It is often said, that we throw away by the pen what we gain 
by the sword. Had General Brock been less prodigal of his valu- 
able life, and survived the Queenstown battle, he would have made 
the 13th of October a still more 'memorable' day, by crossing the 
river and carrying Fort Niagara, which, at that precise time, was 
nearly stripped of its garrison. Instead of doing this, and thus 
putting an end to the campaign upon the Niagara frontier, Major- 
General Sheaffe, General Brock's successor, allowed himself to be 
persuaded to sign an armistice ; the very thing General Van Rens- 
selaer wanted. The latter, of course, assured his panic-struck mili- 
tia, that the British general had sent to implore this of him ; and 
that he, General Van Rensselaer, had consented merely to gain 
time to make some necessary arrangements. — Ibid, pp. 99 to 101. 

"Considering the character of the distinguished chief who fell 
on the British side, at the Queenstown battle, — of him who, 
undoubtedly, was ' the best officer that headed their troops through- 
out the war,' — it will surely be deemed a pardonable digression 
to give a brief sketch of the more prominent features of his life and 
character. 

" Sir Isaac Brock was born at Guernsey, in October, 1769; con- 
sequently, was but forty-three when he received the fatal bullet. 
He had entered the army at the age of sixteen, and been lieutenant- 



APPENDIX A. 139 

colonel of the 49th regiment since 1 797. During the campaign in 
Holland in 1799, he distinguished himself at the head of his regi- 
ment, and was second in command of the land forces at the battle 
of Copenhagen. He was gallant and undaunted, yet prudent and 
calculating ; devoted to his sovereign, and romantically fond of his 
country ; but gentle and persuasive to those whose feelings were 
less ardent than his own. Elevated to the government of Upper 
Canada, he reclaimed the disaffected by mildness, and fixed the 
wavering by argument : all hearts were conciliated ; and, in the 
trying moment of invasion, the whole province displayed a zealous 
and an enthusiastic loyalty. 

" Over the minds of the Indians General Brock had acquired an 
ascendency, which he judiciously exercised for purposes conducive 
no less to the cause of humanity, than to the interests of his coun- 
try. He engaged them to throw aside the scalping knife ; endea- 
voured to implant in their breasts the virtues of clemency and 
forbearance j and taught them to feel pleasure and pride in the 
compassion extended to a vanquished enemy. Circumscribed in his 
means of repelling invasion, he studied to fix the attachment of that 
rude and wavering people ; and, by reducing their military opera- 
tions to the known rules of war and discipline, to improve the 
value of their alliance. 

"His strong attachment to the service, and particularly to his 
regiment, formed a distinguishing feature in his character. There 
was a correspondence of regard between him and his officers, and 
even the non-commissioned officers and privates, with an addition 
of reverence on the part of the latter, that produced the picture of 
a happy family. Those movements of feeling which the exertions 
of discipline will sometimes occasion, rarely reached his men. He 
governed them by a sentiment of esteem which he himself had 
created ; and the consolation was given him, to terminate a useful 
and brilliant course in the midst of his professional family." — Ibid, 
pp. 103, 104. 

Note. — There is some discrepancy between the text, (p. 18,) and 'James,' 
as to the circumstances of the fall of Lieut. -Colonel M'Donell ; but from 
Major Glegg's letters, written at the time and on the spot, he appears to 
have accompanied Sir Isaac Brock from Fort George, — to have remained 
near him at Queenston, — and to have been mortally wounded immediately 
after the death of the general. — Ed. 



140 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

No. 8. 
Extracts from Quarterly Review for July, 1 822. 

" But far more important consequences than these resulted 
from the surrender of Hull. The whole of the Michigan territory, 
an extensive peninsula watered by the lake of that name, by Lake 
Huron and the Detroit, and which separates the Indian country 
from Canada, was ceded to the British by the same capitulation. 
No acquisition could so effectually have secured the north-western 
frontier of Upper Canada by cementing our alliance with the 
Indian nations, whose confidence and respect were gained by this 
success. Its effects upon the militia who had shared in it, and 
upon the population of the Canadas generally, were hardly less 
beneficial : it inspired the timid, fixed the wavering, and awed 
the disaffected. 

" Leaving Colonel Proctor in command on the Detroit frontier 
and in the newly acquired territory, General Brock hastened his 
return to the Niagara line, with the intention of sweeping it of the 
American garrisons, which he knew were then unprepared for 
vigorous resistance. But the first intelligence which he received 
on his arrival at Fort George paralyzed his exertions. The com- 
mander in chief, Lieut.-General Sir George Prevost, had concluded 
an armistice with the American general, Dearborn, which provided 
that neither party should act offensively until the government at 
Washington should ratify or annul the suspension of hostilities ! 
Of the inactivity thus forced upon General Brock, the enemy made 
the best use. As the armistice did not prohibit them from trans- 
porting ordnance, stores, and provisions, of all of which they were 
greatly in need, from Lake Ontario along the Niagara line, they 
had time to recover the panic which had seized them on the sur- 
render of Hull, and to fortify their frontier. The president of the 
United States then refused, as might have been anticipated, to 
confirm the armistice, but not before an American force of six 
thousand three hundred men had assembled on the Niagara frontier. 
The British on the same frontier under General Brock, who now 
received orders from Sir George Prevost to act upon the defensive 
only, did not exceed twelve hundred regulars and militia. 

" The enemy now prepared to carry the war across the Niagara. 
Opposite the village of Queenston on that strait, they concentrated 
three thousand men of their force, and at daylight, on the 13th of 
October, effected a landing on the Canadian shore, notwithstanding 



APPENDIX A. 141 

the gallant opposition of a British detachment of three hundred 
men which was posted at the village. By this handful of troops 
the passage was long and obstinately contested, until General Brock, 
who arrived, unattended, from Fort George during the struggle, fell 
in the act of cheering on his little band to a charge. With him 
the post was lost : a retreat, was effected, and sixteen hundred 
of the enemy established themselves in position on the heights of 
Queenston. Meanwhile, the whole of the British disposable force 
on the Niagara, of about one thousand men, of whom five hun- 
dred and sixty were regulars, had assembled near Queenston ; at 
three in the afternoon, they advanced against the American line, 
and, after a short and spirited contest, put the enemy completely to 
rout, capturing on the field Brigadier- General Wadsworth, nine 
hundred men, a piece of cannon, and a stand of colours. Many of 
the enemy were drowned in the attempt to swim to their own 
shore, and four hundred of them were killed and wounded, while 
the whole British loss did not exceed one hundred men. 

" Such was the dismay of the enemy at the result of the action 
at Queenston, that had General Sheaflfe, who commanded after the 
death of Brock, crossed over immediately afterwards, as it is said 
he was strongly urged by his officers to do, the fort of Niagara, 
which its garrison had even evacuated for some time, might have 
been captured, and the whole of that line cleared of the American 
troops. But General Sheaffe, like his superior, was a lover of 
armistices, and after the action he concluded one of his own with 
the American general, for which no reason, civil or military, was 
ever assigned. Such were the principal occurrences of the cam- 
paign of 1812, in Upper Canada 5 those in the lower province were 
utterly insignificant. 

"In reviewing the campaign in the Canadas of 1812, the most 
striking feature is the failure of the enemy in attempting the 
subjugation of the British provinces. So extravagant were the 
hopes of the American government regarding the issue of the 
contest, that their secretary at war declared from his seat in 
congress, that they ' could take the Canadas without soldiers ; they 
had only to send officers into the provinces, and the people, 
disaffected towards their own government, would rally round the 
American standard.' Mr. Clay, of Virginia, added, that 'it was 
absurd to suppose that the enterprise would fail of success ; he 
was not for stopping at Quebec, or any where else ; he would 
take the continent from the British ; he never wished to see a 



142 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

peace until this was done.' Yet this Mr. Clay was afterwards 
one of the American commissioners who signed the treaty of 
Ghent ! 

" The first act of the commander in chief, on learning the Ame- 
rican declaration of war, was an earnest of his future irresolution. 
He dispatched orders to the commanding officer at fort St. Joseph's 
to remain upon the defensive ; but Captain Roberts knew that, 
if attacked, his post was untenable ; he was aware that the enemy 
at Michilimackinac must shortly be reinforced, and he boldly 
preferred to follow the directions of his immediate commander, 
General Brock, to assault that place if he found it advisable. The 
important result has already been told. To General Brock him- 
self, Sir George Prevost sent no instructions whatever for some 
weeks after he received intimation of the war. Whether this 
neglect was intentional, to leave that officer to his own respon- 
sibility, or was merely the natural effect of the infirmity of purpose 
which the commander in chief afterwards so repeatedly evinced, 
the consequences were equally mischievous ; for General Brock 
had moved from York to Fort George with the intention of attack- 
ing the American fort of Niagara, then unprepared for defence, 
and was only restrained from that measure by the perplexity of his 
situation in being left without orders. Hull's invasion, however, 
put it beyond doubt that he should do right in opposing him, 
and the capture of that force preceded his receipt of the first 
dispatches from the commander in chief. These dispatches, indeed, 
were of such a nature, that it was fortunate they arrived no sooner. 
They announced, as we have already stated, the conclusion of that 
impolitic armistice between Sir George Prevost and General Dear- 
born at the moment which should have been devoted to active 
exertion against the American posts on the frontier. By the 
terms of this truce, General Hull was to determine, at his option, 
whether or not the suspension of arms should be binding upon his 
division. If he had not already capitulated before he could make 
his choice, what might not have been the fatal consequences of 
permitting him to claim the benefit of the armistice ? 

" No sooner was the suspension of arms, to which Sir George 
had agreed, at an end, than he issued positive orders along the 
whole extent of frontier, that no offensive operations whatever 
should be attempted against the different points of the enemy's 
line. The short-sightedness of such a system of defence needs 
perhaps little exposition, but a practical illustration of its tendency 



APPENDIX A. 143 

was afforded, before the close of the year, in the unopposed devas- 
tation of great part of the Indian country by General Harrison, 
while Colonel Proctor was compelled by his orders to refrain from 
advancing to the aid of our allies. This want of co-operation had 
a most unfavourable effect upon the minds of the Indians, and was 
an impolitic and unmanly desertion of them." — Campaigns in the 
Canadas. 

Note. — Although the editor does not approve of the spirit of acrimony 
towards Sir George Prevost, which is manifested throughout the article in 
the Quarterly Review, from which the preceding extracts are taken, yet he 
feels it a sacred obligation due to the memory of Sir Isaac Brock to with- 
hold nothing descriptive of his energetic views and intentions, and of the 
obstacles he experienced in the vigorous prosecution of the contest, — 
obstacles which his gallant spirit could not brook, and which necessarily 
exposed " his valuable life" much more than it would have been in offen- 
sive operations. Sir George Prevost was most unfortunately induced to 
propose the armistice, in the expectation that the American government 
would stay all hostility on learning the repeal of the British orders in 
council, which were the chief among the alleged causes of the war ; and 
this measure was attended with veiy prejudicial consequences, as it ren- 
dered unavailing the command of the lakes, which was then held by the 
British. It also caused a delay of nearly a fortnight in the contemplated 
attack of Sackett's Harbour by Sir Isaac Brock, as he returned from Detroit 
to Fort George on the 24th August, and the cessation of the armistice was 
not known at the latter post until the 4th September. This attack, how- 
ever, could have been still carried into effect, and it was only relinquished 
by express orders from the commander in chief. The armistice was doubt- 
less entered into as well from an terror in judgment as from expectations 
which were not realized ; but as the official intelligence of the president's 
refusal to continue the suspension of hostilities reached Sir George Prevost, 
at Montreal, on the 30th August, — a day or two before Captain Glegg, with 
the dispatches of the capture of Detroit, — it is difficult to account for his 
motive (unless it were that assigned at page 15) in preventing the attempt 
on Sackett's Harbour, as proposed to him by Major-General Brock, through 
his gallant aid-de-camp, a meritorious and talented officer. 

The distance, by water, between Fort George and Kingston, vik York, is 
one hundred and eighty miles, and from Kingston to Sackett's Harbour 
only thirty-six miles, so that the destruction of the arsenal at the last 
named post could have been effected by the 1st of September, had not the 
armistice prevented it. 

Since the first memoir was printed, the editor has been informed by a 
provincial officer, who commanded the schooner Lady Prevost, of 14 guns, 
that on the 23d August he met Major-General Brock on Lake Erie, return- 
ing in the schooner Chippewa from the capture of Detroit, and, after 
saluting him with seventeen guns, he went on board the latter vessel, and 
gave the first intelligence of the armistice to the general, who, on hearing 
it, could not conceal his deep regret and mortification. — Ed. 



144 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 



No. 9. 



Preface to the Second Editio?i of Travels in Canada and the United 
States, in 181G and 1817, by Lieutenant Francis Hall, \Ath Light 
Dragoons, H. P. 

" Soon after the publication of these travels, the author received 
an anonymous communication, charging him with misrepresenting 
the conduct of the officer who succeeded Sir Isaac Brock in the 
command of our forces in Upper Canada. The passages com- 
plained of are : the expression, (p. 227.,) that Tecumseh, after 
that general's death, ' found no kindred spirit with whom to act ; ' — 
the passages of Tecumseh's speech, quoted in the note ; — and the 
expression he is said to have subsequently used, ' Tell the dog,' &c. 

" The author regrets that this communication, (which was con- 
veyed in the most gentlemanly terms,) by being anonymous, left 
him no opening for private explanation, which he cannot but think 
would, on the whole, have proved more satisfactory than a discus- 
sion in print : as it is, it only remains for him to commit the 
litigated points to the judgment of the public. 

" The only insinuation intended to be conveyed by the terms 
'no kindred spirit,' was, that the general who succeeded Sir Isaac 
Brock was inferior to him in talents, and was so considered by 
Tecumseh. This is mere matter of opinion ; but such as the 
author conceives every man is free to deliver, with respect to the 
conduct of an individual employed in a public capacity ; nor, 
however he may be unfortunate enough to differ in it from his 
correspondent, does he believe it would, by any means, be consi- 
dered a singular opinion by the officers who, at that time, served in 
Upper Canada. 

" With regard to the application of the passages quoted from 
Tecumseh's speech, the author conceives he cannot do better than 
make his readers the judges of it, by printing an entire copy of the 
speech, with which his correspondent has been kind enough to 
furnish him. 

" His correspondent denies that Tecumseh ever used the ex- 
pressions, ' Tell the dog,' &c. ; upon which the author cannot 
forbear observing, that, as he has stated no particular occasion 
on which they were used, it seems scarcely possible his correspon- 
dent, unless he was never from Tecumseh's side, can have the 
means of proving they were never uttered at all. The author 
conceives his authority on this point to be such, as fully to warrant 



APPENDIX A, 145 

him in believing his statement to be correct ; at the same time, he 
would be understood as drawing no conclusion from it to the dispa- 
ragement of the officer in question : he quoted it merely to show 
the nature of the Indian chieftain's feelings, and the light in which 
he regarded measures, on the propriety of which the author wishes 
to be considered as stirring no controversy," 

Note. — The officer alluded to in the preceding preface was not Major* 
General Sheaffe, the successor of Sir Isaac Brock, but the officer command- 
ing at Detroit, Amherstburgh, &c. The passages and speech will be given, 
in the notice of Tecumseh.— - Vide Post.— Ed. 

No. 10. 
Extracts from Howisoris Sketches of Upper Canada. — London, 1821. 

" The village of Queenston is beautifully situated at the foot of 
a hill, and upon the side of the Niagara river, the bank of which 
is high and precipitous. The imagination is agreeably struck with 
the first view of the place. On one side of the village is a moun- 
tain covered with shrubbery and verdure ; — behind, a rich and 
cultivated plain extends backwards, which is bounded in every 
direction by luxuriant woods, while in front, the Niagara river 
glides in majestic stillness, and may be traced, with all its windings, 
till its waters are swallowed up in the vast expanse of Lake Ontario, 
The soil around Queenston consists chiefly of a red clay, the bright 
colour of which, upon the roads and declivities where it is exposed, 
forms a singular contrast, during summer, with the pure green of 
the trees and fields in the vicinity. 

" The narrowness of the river here, and its suitableness for a 
ferry, renders this one of the principal channels of communication 
between Upper Canada and the United States ; consequently, there 
is a continual interchange of waggons, cattle, passengers, &c. which 
makes Queenston rather more lively than it would otherwise be. 
However, all its external attractiveness depends upon the fineness 
of its situation. The buildings are irregular and inelegant j and an 
air of depression and inactivity pervades the whole place, to a 
degree I never saw equalled in any village of the same extent. 

" Queenston must infallibly acquire magnitude and importance 
when the province becomes populous and flourishing, for it is 
situated at the commencement of a portage, which never can be 
evaded by any improvement in the navigation, it being rendered 
necessary by the falls of Niagara ; therefore, all vessels containing 
goods and stores destined for the western parts of Upper Canada, 
K 



146 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

must unload and leave their cargoes at Queenston, that they may- 
be conveyed overland to Chippewa, where the Niagara river again 
becomes navigable. Even now, a good deal of this carrying 
business goes on during the summer months. The north-west 
company forward a considerable quantity of stores to the Indian 
territories by this route, and the country merchants receive annual 
supplies of goods from Montreal, and send down pork, flour, staves, 
and potash, in return. 

"The environs of Queenston are beautifully picturesque and 
romantic, and nothing can be finer than the prospect up the 
Niagara river. Immediately above the village its channel narrows 
very much, and the banks rise to the height of three hundred feet 
perpendicular, while at the same time they become wild and rocky, 
and are thickly covered with trees of various kinds. In some places 
they partly over-arch the river, and throw an appalling gloom upon 
its waters, now dashed into turbulence and impetuosity by the 
ruggedness of their sloping bed. It was night when I first viewed 
this scene, and as the moon gradually rose, she threw a broken 
light successively upon different portions of the stream, and some- 
times brought to view the foamy bosom of a rapid, at other times 
unveiled the struggling and heaving waters of a whirlpool, while 
the mingled roar, on all sides, excited a shuddering curiosity about 
those parts of the river that rolled along in darkness. 

" Over the precipice, on the summit of which I stood while I 
contemplated this scene, many of the American soldiers had rushed 
at the close of the battle of Queenston heights. They were so 
warmly pressed by our troops and the Indians, and had so little 
prospect of obtaining quarter from the latter, that a great number 
wildly flung themselves over the steep, and tried to save their lives 
by catching hold of the trees that grew upon it ; but many were 
frightfully dashed to pieces by the rocks, and others who reached 
the river perished in their attempts to swim across it. Several, who 
had dropped among the cliffs without receiving any injury, were 
afterwards transfixed and killed by falling upon their own bayonets, 
while in the act of leaping from one spot to another. I almost 
imagined I saw these unfortunate men writhing in all the agonies 
of a protracted death, and gazing with envy at their companions, 
who were convulsively catching for breath among the sullen waters 
below. Were the Canadians inclined to be superstitious, they 
could not select a more suitable place than this for the haunt and 
appearance of unearthly beings. The wildness of the scenery, the 



APPENDIX A. 147 

gloom of the cliffs, and the melancholy incident I have just related, 
would subject Queenston heights to the suspicion of any people 
more under the influence of imagination than the Canadians are, 
and make them conjure up half a dozen bleeding sentinels at the 
top of the precipice every night after sunset. 

"At the ferry, the Niagara river is twelve hundred and fifty feet 
in breadth, and from two to three hundred in depth. The current 
is very rapid, and the wreathing and perturbed appearance of the 
water shews that its course is much impeded by the narrowness of 
the channel, which must be entirely composed of rocks ; for, other- 
wise, the continual and rapid attrition of such a large river as that 
which flows through it, would undermine and wear away the banks, 
and thus gradually enlarge and widen its course. I could not 
survey this noble stream without awe, when I contrasted it in the 
state in which it flowed before me, with the appearance it has when 
mingling with the ocean. I recollected having beat about the mouth 
of the St. Lawrence during two days, and having been alarmed by 
the prospect of shipwreck, while in the vessel that conveyed me to 
Lower Canada ; but now the waters which formed the dangerous 
gulf all passed silently before me, within the narrow limits occupied 
by the Niagara river. The St. Lawrence derives but a small pro- 
portion of its torrents from tributary streams, the Ottawa being the 
only river of great magnitude that joins it. The rivers Chaudiere, 
Saguenai, Pepechaissinagau, Black River, &c, are trifling indeed, 
when compared with that into which they discharge themselves. 

" The Niagara river is subject to those periodical alterations in 
height, which, as I have already mentioned, occur in the lakes. 
This can be satisfactorily proved by the wharfs at Queenston, some 
of which are five feet higher above the surface of the river than 
they were in the year 1817, and also by the water marks left on the 
perpendicular sand banks near the ferry. 

"General Brock was killed at the battle of Queenston heights, 
and the place where he fell was pointed out to me. The Canadians 
hold the memory of this brave and excellent man in great venera- 
tion, but have not yet attempted to testify their respect for his 
virtues in any way, except by shewing to strangers the spot on 
which he received his mortal wound. He was more popular, and 
more beloved by the inhabitants of Upper Canada, than any man 
they ever had among them, and with reason ; for he possessed, in 
an eminent degree, those virtues which add lustre to bravery, and 
those talents that shine alike in the cabinet and in the field. His 



148 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

manners and dispositions were so conciliating as to gain the affec- 
tion of all whom he commanded, while his innate nobleness and 
dignity of mind secured him a respect almost amounting to venera- 
tion. He is now styled the Hero of Upper Canada, and, had he 
lived, there is no doubt but the war would have terminated very 
differently from what it did. The Canadian farmers are not over- 
burthened with sensibility, yet I have seen several of them shed 
tears when an eulogium was pronounced upon the immortal and 
generous-minded deliverer of their country. 

" General Brock was killed close to the road that leads through 
Queenston village, and an aged thorn bush now marks the place 
where he fell, when the fatal ball entered his vitals. This spot 
may be called classic ground, for a view of it must awaken in the 
minds of all those who duly appreciate the greatness of his cha- 
racter, and are acquainted with the nature of his resources and 
exertions, feelings as warm and enthusiastic as the contemplation of 
monuments consecrated by antiquity can ever do. — Pages 70 to 76. 

" The prospect from the top of Queenston mountain is the finest 
and most extensive that Upper Canada affords, and, in an eminent 
degree, combines the beautiful and the magnificent. The wild and 
majestic precipices which engulf one part of the Niagara river, the 
windings and mirrored expanse of that noble body of water, the 
dim and undiscoverable extent of Lake Ontario, together with the 
verdant orchards, thick forests, and improved fields, glowing 
beneath a pure sky, collectively form a scene of admirable effect 
and composition. Even York, which is thirty-six miles distant, 
and lies very low, can be seen from the summit of this hill during 
clear weather. — Page 87. 

"The Detroit river, which connects Lake St. Clair and Lake 
Erie, is forty miles long, and divides that part of Canada, which it 
traverses, from the United States. Its banks are in many places 
thickly peopled, and in a high state of cultivation. The inhabitants 
here are chiefly French Canadians, who began to occupy the coun- 
try when Canada was still under the jurisdiction of France. They 
still retain that amenity of manners which distinguishes them from 
the peasantry of most countries. The houses are so numerous and 
so close together upon the banks of the Detroit river, that there is 
the appearance of a succession of villages for more than ten miles. 
The farms are very narrow in front, and extend a great way back. 
The lots were laid out in this awkward and inconvenient form, that 
their respective occupants might be able to render one another 



APPENDIX A. 149 

assistance when attacked by the Indians, who were at one time 
very numerous and troublesome in this part of the country. 

" The banks of the Detroit river are the Eden of Upper Canada, 
in so far as regards the production of fruit. Apples, pears, plums, 
peaches, grapes, and nectarines, attain the highest degree of per- 
fection there, and exceed in size, beauty, and flavour, those raised 
in any other part of the province. Cider abounds at the table of 
the meanest peasant, and there is scarcely a farm that has not 
a fruitful orchard attached to it. This fineness of the fruit is one 
consequence of the amelioration of climate, which takes place in 
the vicinity of the Detroit river and Lake St. Clair. The seasons 
there are much milder and more serene than they are a few hun- 
dred miles below, and the weather is likewise drier and less variable. 
Comparatively little snow falls during the winter, though the cold is 
often sufficiently intense to freeze over the Detroit river so strongly, 
that persons, horses, and even loaded sleighs, cross it with ease and 
safety. In summer the country presents a forest of blossoms, which 
exhale the most delicious odours ; a cloud seldom obscures the sky ; 
while the lakes and rivers, which extend in every direction, com- 
municate a reviving freshness to the air, and moderate the warmth 
of a dazzling sun 3 and the clearness and elasticity of the atmo- 
sphere render it equally healthy arid exhilarating. 

" About twenty miles down the Detroit river stands the village of 
Sandwich, which contains thirty or forty houses, and a neat church. 
Below this the soil becomes rather inferior in quality, being some- 
what cold and swampy. The settlement is likewise partial and 
circumscribed, and a tract of land six miles in length, which belongs 
to the Huron Indians, does not contain a single inhabitant. A 
little above the mouth of the Detroit river, and head of Lake Erie, 
is the town of Amherstburgh, which forms the most westerly settle- 
ment in the Upper Province. The population of this place amounts 
to more than a thousand souls, a proportion of whom are merchants, 
who derive support in the way of trade from the farmers residing 
upon the shores of Lake Erie. Many of the inhabitants of Am- 
herstburgh are persons of wealth and respectability, and the circle 
which they collectively compose is a more refined and agreeable one 
than is to be met with in any other village in the province. 

"The mouth of the Detroit river, in which there are several 
islands, forms a safe and commodious harbour. The river itself is 
navigable for vessels of any size ; and a chain of water communica- 
tion extends westward, without interruption, to the head of Lake 



150 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

Superior, which is more than a thousand miles distant from Lake 
Erie. The country north-west of Amherstburgh being entirely 
uninhabited, except by tribes of wandering Indians, is but little 
known ; however, it would appear that many parts of it are well 
adapted for agriculture." — Pages 199 to 202. 

No. 11. 

" This chief of the branch of the once great tribe of the Hurons 
visited England some time ago. I afterwards saw him in Quebec, 
and had a good deal of conversation with him. When asked what 
had struck him most of all that he had seen in England, he replied, 
without hesitation, that it was the monument erected in St. Paul's 
to the memory of General Brock. It seemed to have impressed 
him with a high idea of the considerate beneficence of his great 
father, the king of England, that he not only had remembered the 
exploits and death of his white child, who had fallen beyond the 
big salt lake, but that he had even deigned to record, on the marble 
sepulchre, the sorrows of the poor Indian weeping over his chief 
untimely slain." — Hon. F. F. De Roos' Travels in Noi-th America, 
in 1826. 

No., 12. 

"To Colonel Brock, of the 49th, who commanded at the fort, 
I am particularly indebted for his kindness to me during the fort- 
night I remained at Niagara. Among many pleasant days which I 
passed with him and his brother officers, that of our visit to the 
Tuscorora Indians was not the least interesting. They received us 
in all their ancient costume ; the young men exhibited for our 
amusement in the race, the bat game, &c, while the old and the 
women sat in groups under the surrounding trees, and the picture 
altogether was as beautiful as it was new to me." — Note in Moore's 
Epistles, Odes, $c. 

"At Queenston the battle was fought in which General Brock 
fell, and the inhabitants point out a thorn bush at the bottom of 
the heights, where it is said that he received his mortal wound. 
His career was a short but a brilliant one ; and had the direction 
of the affairs of the Upper Province, after his death, been charac- 
terized by an equal degree of courage, prudence, and humanity, a 
very different series of subsequent events would have claimed the 
attention of the historian." — Duncan s Travels in the United States 
and Canada, in 1818 and 1819. 



APPENDIX A. 151 

" Close to the spot where we landed in Canada there stands a 
monument to the gallant General Brock, who was killed during 
the battle of Queenston, in the act of repelling an invasion of the 

frontier by the Americans, during the late war The view 

from the top of the monument extended far over Lake Ontario, 
and showed us the windings of the Niagara, through the low and 
woody country which hangs like a rich green fringe along the 
southern skirts of that great sheet of water." — Captain Basil Hall's 
Travels in North America, in 1827 and 1828. 

Travelling in the state of New York, the author observes : " The 
late Sir Isaac Brock was, by some accident, mentioned. The canal 
agent spoke of him in terms of great respect, as the best com- 
mander the British had ever sent to Canada, — equally regretted on 
both sides of the St. Lawrence 

" From Niagara Falls we proceeded by the stage first to Queen- 
ston, (seven miles,) near which a monument has been erected to 
the memory of Sir Isaac Brock, from the top of which, about one 
hundred and twenty feet high, there is a noble view of Lake 
Ontario and the adjoining country, and thence to the village of 
Newark, (seven miles,) formerly called Fort George, on the Niagara 
river." — Stuart's Three Years in America. 

" Immediately above Queenston stands Brock's monument, on 
the heights where the battle was fought in which that hero was 
killed. His body was removed to it from Fort George in 1824. 
The view from this fine column is probably the most beautiful in 
Upper Canada. — M'Gregor's British America, Vol. II. 

" Seven miles south of Fort George, and at the foot of the 
romantic heights of the same name, which have become famous in 
Canadian history as the scene of a battle wherein General Brock 
fell, is the village of Queenston, pleasantly situated on the Niagara, 
and opposite to the American village of Lewiston. The monument, 
built to the memory of the gallant general and his companions, on 
the loftiest part of these heights, forms a prominent object to the 
numerous voyageurs who are constantly arriving at this portage, in 
elegantly fitted up steam boats, from York and Kingston, to view 
the neighbouring falls of the Niagara. The village contains a 
church, court house, large government stores, and a population of 
between four hundred and five hundred inhabitants." — The Canadas, 
by Andreio Picken. 



L 52 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 



No. 13. 



" Leaving a garrison in Detroit sufficiently strong to keep the 
inhabitants in awe, General Brock lost no time in leaving the con- 
quered post and hastening to Niagara,- — a command he had only 
relinquished for the purpose of undertaking an achievement which 
the gallantry and determination of his character could alone have 
crowned with such unqualified success 

"The month of October was marked by an event of the most 
melancholy nature,^— the death of General Brock, who fell a victim 

to the intrepidity and daring of his character The loss of 

their leader, however, cast a gloom over every English brow, and 
an advantage thus purchased was deemed at too high a price. 
General Brock was beloved by the soldiery, particularly the 49th, 
of which he had long been lieutenant-colonel, and the indignation 
of their grief for his loss cost the Americans many a life on that 
day, that had otherwise been spared. At Amherstburg, the account 
of his death was received with heartfelt concern, and not a man 
was there of those he had lately led to victory who failed to pay 
that tribute to his memory, which the gallantry and magnanimity 
of this glorious chief were so every way calculated to awaken in 
the breast of the soldier." — 'A Canadian Campaign,' by a British 
Officer, in the New Monthly Magazine for December, 1826, and 
February, 1827. 

No. 14. 

"Immediately opposite the town of Prescott, on the shore of the 
United States, is the town of Ogdensburg ; and twelve miles 
higher up, on the Canadian shore, stands the delightful village of 
Brockville, so called in honor of the late lamented Sir Isaac Brock. 
This enchanting little spot unites in its situation every beauty of 
nature. In front of it flows the river St. Lawrence, interspersed 
with numerous islands, variously formed and thickly wooded ; 
behind it is an assemblage of small hills, rising one above another 
in 'gay theatric pride;' and on each side are a number of well 
cleared farms, in an advanced state of cultivation. Every thing 
combines to render it pre-eminently beautiful. The dwellings are 
built of wood, and tastefully painted ; and the court house, in an 
elevated situation at the back of the village, seems, from its superior 
size, to be the guardian of the villagers, — an idea of my fancy, 
Which I did not seek to confirm by entering within its doors. 
Brockville contains four hundred and fifty souls. It has a par* 



APPENDIX A. 153 

Sonftge house, but no church has hitherto been erected." — Five 
Years in Canada, by E. A. Talbot. 

NoTE.-^-Brockville was originally named Elizabeth Town in compliment 
to the general's mother, and the township or county, in which the village 
is situated, is still called Elizabeth.^-ED. 

No. 15. 
Extract from a Description of St. Paul's Cathedral. 

" In the western ambulatory of the south transept is a tabular 
monument to the memory of Sir Isaac Brock, by the same artist 
(Westmacott). 

" A military monument, on which are placed the sword and 
helmet of the deceased ; a votive record, supposed to have been 
raised by his companions to their honored commander. 

" His corpse reclines in the arms of a British soldier, whilst an 
Indian pays the tribute of regret his bravery and humanity elicited. 

ERECTED AT THE PUBLIC EXPENSE 

TO THE MEMORY OF 

MAJOR-GENERAL 

SIR ISAAC BROCK, 

WHO GLORIOUSLY FELL 

ON THE 13th OF OCTOBER, 

M.DCCC.XII. 

IN RESISTING AN ATTACK 

ON 

QUEENSTOWN, 

IN UPPER CANADA. 

No. 16. 

"Anniversary of the Battle of Queenston, and the Re4nterment of 
the late much -lamented Major- General Sir Isaac Brock. 

" There is something so grand and imposing in the spectacle of a 
nation's homage to departed worth, which calls for the exercise of 
so many interesting feelings, and which awakens so many sublime 
contemplations, that we naturally seek to perpetuate the memory 
of an event so pregnant with instruction, and so honorable to our 
species. It is a subject that in other and in older countries has 
frequently exercised the pens, and has called forth all the descriptive 
powers of the ablest writers.* But here it is new ; and for the first 

* It is impossible here to forget (however different were the circumstances 
and character of the two warriors) that fine passage by the splendid historian 



154 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

time, since we became a separate province, have we seen a great 
public funeral procession of all ranks of people, to the amount of 
several thousands, bearing the remains of two lamented heroes to 
their last dwelling on earth, in the vaults of a grand national 
monument, overtopping the loftiest heights of the most magnificent 
section of one of the most magnificent countries in the world. 

"The 13th of October, being the anniversary of the battle of 
Queenston, and of the death of Brock, was judiciously chosen as 
the most proper day for the removal of the remains of the general, 
together with those of his gallant aid-de-camp, Lieutenant-Colonel 
M'Donell, to the vaults prepared for their reception on Queenston 
heights, f 

" The weather was remarkably fine, and before ten o'clock a very 
large concourse of people, from all parts of the country, had 
assembled on the plains of Niagara, in front of Fort George, in a 
bastion of which the bodies had been deposited for twelve years. X 

" One hearse, covered with black cloth, and drawn by four black 
horses, each with a leader, contained both the bodies. Soon after 
ten, a lane was formed by the 1st and 4th regiments of Lincoln 
militia, with their right on the gate of Fort George, and their 
left extending along the road towards Queenston, the ranks being 
about forty paces distant from each other : within this line was 
formed a guard of honor of the 76th regiment, in parade order, 
having its left on the fort. As the hearse moved slowly from the 
fort, to the sound of solemn music, a detachment of royal artillery 
began to fire the salute of nineteen guns, and the guard of honor 
presented arms. 

" On moving forwards in ordinary time, the guard of honor 

of Rome, wherein he immortalizes the death and funeral of the ferocious 
Attila, in language at once musical and sublime, and which is probably 
without an equal in the whole range of English literature : " His body was 
solemnly exposed in the midst of the plain, under a silken pavilion ; and the 
chosen squadrons of the Huns, wheeling round in measured evolutions, 
chaunted a funeral song to the memory of a hero, glorious in his life, invinci- 
ble in his death, the father of his people, the scourge of his enemies, and the 
terror of the world." 

t The monument itself is not yet finished ; we shall therefore defer our 
description of the edifice until it is completed. 

X It is remarkable that, on inspecting the remains, the body of Colonel 
M'Donell was found to be almost entirely decomposed, — whilst that of the 
general was still firm and nearly entire ; some of the flesh and lineaments of 
his martial countenance being yet visible. 



APPENDIX A. 155 

broke into a column of eight divisions, with the right in front, and 
the procession took the following order : — 

A Staff Officer. 

Subdivision of Grenadier*. 

Band of Music. 

Right Wing of 76th Regiment. 

THE BODY. 

Aid-de-Camp to the late Major-General Sir Isaac Brock. 

Chief Mourners. 

Relatives of the late Colonel M'Donell. 

Commissioners for the Monument. 

Heads of Public Departments of the Civil Government. 

Judges. 

Members of the Executive Council. 

His Excellency and Suite. 

Left Wing of the 76th Regiment. 

Indian Chiefs of the Five Nations. 

Officers of Militia not on duty — -junior ranks — First forward, 

Four deep. 

Magistrates and Civilians, 

With a long Cavalcade of Horsemen, and Carriages of every 

description. 

"As the procession passed along the lane of militia, the latter 
wheeled inwards by subdivisions in succession, as soon as its own 
front was clear, and followed the procession. At a certain distance 
from Fort George the quick march was taken up, and arms were 
sloped ; the members of the procession then took their carriages, 
preserving as nearly as possible the order above mentioned, and the 
whole proceeded on the road to Queenston. The 2d and 3d regi- 
ments of Lincoln militia, in like manner, formed a lane, its left 
resting on the heights, near the entrance to the monument, and 
extending along the road towards the village of Queenston. On 
reaching the commencement of this lane, the procession resumed its 
formation, all horses, carriages, &c, keeping in the rear ; and when 
the head of the column approached the monument, it inclined to 
the right, to allow the body to proceed direct to the entrance. The 
guard of honor then halted and formed in parade order ; the 2d 
and 3d Lincoln regiments following the procession in like manner 
as the 1st and 4th. 

"The time occupied in moving from the fort to Queenston, a 
distance of nearly seven miles, was about three hours, including 
stoppages. Being arrived opposite the spot where the lamented 
hero received his mortal wound, the whole procession halted, and 
remained for a few minutes in solemn pause. It then ascended the 



156 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

heights, and to the spectator who had his station on the summit 
near the monument, nothing could be finer than the effect of the 
lengthened column winding slowly up the steep ascent in regular 
order, surrounded by scenery no where surpassed for romantic 
beauty. On the bodies being removed from the hearse and depo- 
sited in the vault, the guard of honor presented arms, whilst the 
artillery, (which had been taken from the enemy during the last 
war,) posted on the heights, fired a salute of nineteen guns. The 
troops then marched in ordinary time round the monument, and 
immediately separated to their respective parades. 

"All those who were inclined to visit the interior of the vault 
were then permitted to enter in small parties. The remains of the 
brave M'Donell lie to the left of those of the general. On the 
general's coffin, which is otherwise quite plain and covered with 
black cloth, are two oval plates of silver, each six inches by four, 
one above the other. On the first is the following inscription : — 

Here lie the earthly remains of a brave 

and virtuous hero, 

Major -General Sir Isaac Brock, 

Commander of the British Forces, 

and President administering 

the Government of Upper Canada, 

who fell when gloriously engaging the enemies 

of his country, 

at the head of the Flank Companies 

of the 49th Regiment, 

in the town of Queenston, 

on the morning of the 13th of October, 1812, 

Aged 42 years. 

J. B. GLEGG, A. D. C. 

And on the second plate the following additional inscription is 

° The remains of the late 

Major -General Sir Isaac Brock, K. B. 

removed from Fort George to this vault, 

on the 13th of October, 1824. 

Upon a similar plate, on the lid of the aid-de-camp's coffin, was 

engraved : — m 

° The remains of 

Lieut.- Col. John M'Donell, 

Provincial Aid-de-Camp to the late 

Major-General Brock, 

who died on the 14th of October, 1812, 

of wounds received in action the day before, 

Aged 25 years. 



APPENDIX A. 157 

" Several printed papers, having the following extract from the 
government dispatches of the day, were handed about : 

[See dispatch from Earl Bathurst to Sir George Prevost, 
pp. 21,22.— Ed.] 

" Besides which, on large placards, to the number of several hun- 
dreds, copies of the inscription to be placed on the tablet, over the 
entrance of the monument, were distributed amongst the assembled 
multitudes, and which is as follows :■ — 

" The Legislature of Upper Canada has dedicated this Monument to the 
very eminent civil and military services of the late Sir Isaac Brock, Knight 
of the Most Hon. Order of the Bath, Provisional Lieutenant-Governor, and 
Major-General commanding the Forces in this Province, whose remains are 
deposited in the vault beneath. Having expelled the North Western Army 
of the United States, achieved its capture, received the surrender of Fort 
Detroit, and the territory of Michigan, under circumstances which have 
rendered his name illustrious, he returned to the protection of this frontier ; 
and advancing with his small force to repel a second invasion of the enemy, 
then in possession of these heights ; he fell in action, on the 13th of Octo- 
ber, 1812, in the forty-third year of his age, honoured and beloved by the 
people whom he governed, and deplored by his Sovereign, to whose service 
his life had been devoted." 

REMARKS. 

"By the best computation we could make, and avoiding all 
exaggeration, at the time the procession reached the monument 
there could not be less than five thousand persons present, many of 
whom were from the United States. General Brock, indeed, was a 
man no less esteemed by the enemy than he was admired and 
almost adored by his friends and soldiery ; and we heard several 
Americans say, who had served against him and saw him fall, that 
they lamented his death as much as they would have done that of 
any of their own generals, on account of his humanity, and the 
great attention he had uniformly shewn to his prisoners. 

" His excellency the lieutenant-governor (Major- General Sir 
Peregrine Maitland, K.C. B.) was in full dress, and, we are happy 
to say, appeared in good health after his late fatiguing journey of 
inspection to the Lower Province. The two M'Donells and Captain 
Dickinson, of the 2d Glengarry regiment, relatives of the deceased 
Lieut.-Colonel M'Donell, in the highland costume, appeared in the 
procession to great advantage, and seemed to excite much attention. 

" But, amongst the assembled warriors and civilians, none excited 
a more lively interest than the chiefs of the Indian nations from 
the Grand River, whose warlike appearance, intrepid aspect, pic- 



158 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

turesque dress and ornaments, and majestic demeanour, accorded 
well with the solemn pomp and general character of a military pro- 
cession — amongst these, young Brant, Bears Foot, and Henry, were 
distinguished. In our mind we never saw a dress more elegant of its 
kind, and fit for active service in the woods, than that worn by young 
Brant, who, with his tomahawk in hand, was a perfect resemblance 
of all that could be imagined of the accomplished Indian warrior. 

" Amongst the numerous gentlemen in the procession, we ob- 
served that old veteran, Lieutenant M'Dougall, of his Majesty's 8th, 
or king's regiment, who, like a brave and loyal man, came from 
Sandwich to attend the re-interment." — Upper Canada Gazette, 
October, 1824. 



SECTION II. — AMERICAN AUTHORS. 

No. 1. 
Extracts from Niles' Weekly Register, Baltimore, 1812. 
" Extract of a letter from a gentleman at Detroit to his friend in 
Pittsburg, dated July 7, 1812. — 'General Hull is making prepara- 
tions to cross the river this evening or to-morrow, and it is expected 
that an immediate attack is contemplated on Maiden (Amherst- 
burg). The works of that place are not very strong, but they are 
well defended with artillery, having, I am told, forty pieces mounted 
and above two hundred regulars, with all the militia they can 
collect, the number not known : there is no doubt but there will 
be hard fighting before the place is taken. The army are all in 
health and good spirits, and wait with anxiety to be put on the 
other shore : they are certainly as fine looking men as ever I saw.' 

" We have several reports of the capture of Fort Maiden, or 
Amherstburg. General Hull has sent expresses to the governor of 
Ohio and Kentucky for further supplies of troops, supposed for the 
purpose of maintaining the ground he may take, and to keep the 
allies in check. We trust he may religiously adhere to his procla- 
mation, whatever General Brock may say, and give no quarters to 
the white savages when found fighting by the side of the Indians, 
for whose extensive murders, on so many parts of our frontier, the 
British should be made responsible. 

"September 5. — We have this week to announce a signal cala- 
mity, — General Hull, with the whole north western army, consisting 



APPENDIX A. 159 

of two thousand five hundred men, with twenty-five pieces of 
cannon, has surrendered to the British and Indians, commanded 
by Major-General Brock, without a buttle, — without any apparent 
effort to maintain the honor of his country. 

" As yet this lamentable transaction is involved in mystery. 
Our army appears to have been well supplied with all sorts of 
stores, — to have had an abundance of provisions, with every muni- 
tion of war, — and the British force (without taking into view the 
advantages that might have been expected from the strong fortifi- 
cations at Detroit) seems inferior in point of numbers to the troops 
under General Hull. We are lost in astonishment on reflecting on 
this disaster, — how it has been brought about is yet incomprehen- 
sible ; a strange misfortune, mighty error, or horrid treason has 
befallen us ; but as we are uninformed of the particulars, it is right 
to suspend our opinion until the facts shall appear, all of which 
shall be carefully recorded. 

"The western papers, and private letters from that quarter, 
abound with the severest animadversions on General Hull, — charg- 
ing him with incompetency, or insinuating something worse. This 
is also surprising, for few men ever entered upon a command with 
greater popularity than that gentleman. 

" Extracts of a letter from Colonel Lewis Cass, 3d regiment Ohio 
volunteers, to the Honorable William Eustis, secretary of war, 
dated Washington, September 10, 1812. — 'Sir, having been or- 
dered on to this place by Colonel M'Arthur, for the purpose of 
communicating to the government such particulars respecting the 
expedition lately commanded by Brigadier-General Hull, and its 
disastrous result, as might enable them correctly to appreciate the 
conduct of the officers and men, and to develope the causes which 
produced so foul a stain upon the national character, I have the 
honor to submit for your consideration the following statement : — 

" ' When the forces landed in Canada, they landed with an 
ardent zeal and stimulated with the hope of conquest. No enemy 
appeared within view of us ; and had an immediate and vigorous 
attack been made upon Maiden, it would doubtless have fallen an 

easy victory The plan of attacking Maiden was abandoned, 

and instead of acting offensively we broke up our camp, evacuated 
Canada, and re-crossed the river in the night, without even the 
shadow of an enemy to injure us. We left to the tender mercy of 
the enemy the miserable Canadians who had joined us, and the 
protection we afforded them was but a passport to vengeance 



160 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

On the 13th (August) the British took up a position opposite to 
Detroit, and began to throw up works. During that and the two 
following days, they pursued their object without interruption, and 
established a battery for two eighteen pounders and an eight-inch 
howitzer. About sunset on the 14th, a detachment of three hun- 
dred and fifty men, from the regiments commanded by Colonel 
M 'Arthur and myself, was ordered to march to the river Raisin, to 
escort the provisions which had some time remained there, pro- 
tected by a party under the command of Captain Brush. 

"'On Saturday the 15th, about one o'clock, a flag of truce 
arrived from Sandwich, bearing a summons from General Brock 
for the surrender of the town and fort of Detroit, stating he could 
no longer restrain the fury of the savages. To this an immediate 
and spirited refusal was returned. About four o'clock their batteries 
began to play upon the town. The fire was returned, and conti- 
nued without interruption, and with little effect, till dark. Their 
shells were thrown till eleven o'clock. 

" 'At daylight the firing on both sides recommenced ; about the 
same time the enemy began to land troops at the Springwells, three 
miles below Detroit, protected by two of their armed vessels. 
Between six and seven o'clock they had effected their landing, and 
immediately took up their line of march. They moved in a close 
column of platoons, twelve in front, upon the bank of the river. 

" ' The 4th regiment was stationed in the fort ; the Ohio volun- 
teers and a part of the Michigan militia behind some pickets, in a 
situation in which the whole flank of the enemy would have been 
exposed. The residue of the Michigan militia were in the upper 
part of the town, to resist the incursions of the savages. Two 
twenty-four pounders, loaded with grape shot, were posted on a 
commanding eminence, ready to sweep the advancing column. In 
this situation the superiority of our position was apparent, and our 
troops, in the eager expectation of victory, awaited the approach 

of the enemy When the head of their column arrived 

within about five hundred yards of our line, orders were received 
from General Hull for the whole to retreat to the fort, and for the 
twenty-four pounders not to open on the enemy. One universal 
burst of indignation was apparent upon the receipt of this order. 
Those, whose conviction was the deliberate result of a dispassionate 
examination of passing events, saw the folly and impropriety of 
crowding eleven hundred men into a little work, which three hun- 
dred could fully man, and into which the shot and shells of the 



APPENDIX A. 161 

enemy were falling. The fort was in this manner filled ; the men 
were directed to stack their arms, and scarcely was an opportunity 
afforded of moving. Shortly after a white flag was hung out upon 

the walls. A British officer rode up to inquire the cause 

Our morning report had that morning made our effective men, 
present fit for duty, ten hundred and sixty, without including the 
detachment before alluded to, and without including three hundred 
of the Michigan militia on duty. About dark on Saturday evening, 
the detachment, sent to escort the provisions, received orders from 
General Hull to return with as much expedition as possible. About 
ten o'clock the next day they arrived within sight of Detroit. Had 
a firing been heard, or any resistance visible, they would have im- 
mediately advanced and attacked the rear of the enemy. The 
situation in which this detachment was placed, although the result 
of accident, was the best for annoying the enemy, and cutting off 
his retreat, that could have been selected. With his raw troops 
enclosed between two fires, and no hopes of succour, it is hazarding 
little to say that very few would have escaped. 

" * I have been informed by Colonel Findley, who saw the return 
of the quartermaster-general the day after the surrender, that their 
whole force, of every description, white, red, and black, was ten 
hundred and thirty. They had twenty-nine platoons, twelve in a 
platoon, of men dressed in uniform. Many of these were evidently 
Canadian militia. The rest of their militia increased their white 
force to about seven hundred. The number of Indians could not 
be ascertained with any degree of precision, — not many were 
visible. And in the event of an attack upon the town and fort, it 
was a species of force which could have afforded no material ad- 
vantage to the enemy That we were far superior to the 

enemy, that upon any ordinary principles of calculation we would 
have defeated them, the wounded and indignant feelings of every 

man there will testify I was informed by General Hull, the 

morning after the capitulation, that the British forces consisted of 
eighteen hundred regulars, and that he surrendered to prevent the 
effusion of human blood. That he magnified their regular force 
nearly five-fold, there can be no doubt. Whether the philanthropic 
reason assigned by him is a sufficient justification for surrendering 
a fortified town, an army, and a territory, is for the government to 
determine. Confident I am, that had the courage and conduct of 
the general been equal to the spirit and zeal of the troops, the 



1G2 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

event would have been brilliant and successful as it is now disas- 
trous and dishonorable. I have the honor to be,' &c. 

Note. — The entire British force was ahout thirteen hundred and thirty 
men. (See page 11.) Colonel Cass speaks only of the American effective 
force ; the numerical force was ahout two thousand five hundred men. — Ed. 

" REPORT OF THE BATTLE OF QUEENSTOWN." (Extracts.) 

" Captain Wool discovered the British troops forming at Queens- 
town, and formed the troops under his command in line. General 
Brock was at the head of the British troops, and led them round 
about to the heights in the rear of the battery. Captain Wool 
detached one hundred and sixty men to meet the British ; this 
detachment was driven back, reinforced, and the whole driven to 
the brink of the precipice, forming the bank of the Niagara river, 
above Queenstown. 

"At this moment some of the officers put a white handkerchief 
on a bayonet to hoist as a flag, with intention to surrender. Cap- 
tain Wool inquired the object. It was answered that the party 
were nearly without ammunition, and that it was useless to sacrifice 
the lives of brave men. Captain Wool tore off the flag, ordered 
the officers to rally the men, and bring them to the charge. The 
order was executed, but in some confusion. The boasted 49th 
could not stand the American bayonet. The British troops were 
routed, and Major-General Brock, in gallantly exerting himself to 
rally them, was killed. His aid, Colonel M'Donell, fell mortally 
wounded at the same time. 

" The British being completely driven from the heights about ten 
o'clock, the line was reformed and flanking parties sent out." 

No. 2. 

" Revolutionary Services of General Hull, as taken from his Defence 
before the Court Martial, in March, 1814. — (Seepage 14.) 

" For more than half a century I supported a character without 
reproach. My youth was devoted to the service of my country; 
I fought her battles in that war which achieved her liberty and 
independence, and which was ended before many of you, gentlemen, 
who are my judges, were born. If upon any occasion a man may 
speak of his own merits, it is at such a time as this ; and I hope I 
may be permitted to present to you, in very few words, a narration 
of my life, while I was engaged in scenes which were calculated to 



APPENDIX A. 163 

prove a man's firmness and courage. I shall do it with less 
reluctance, because the testimony I have offered of the venerable 
men who served with me in the revolutionary war, will vouch for 
all I have to say. In the year 1775, at the age of about twenty- 
one years, I was appointed a captain in one of the Connecticut 
regiments; during that campaign, and until March, 1 776, when 
the enemy evacuated Boston, I served with the army at Cambridge 
and Roxbury, and in the immediate command of General Wash- 
ington. I was with that part of the army, in March, 1776, which 
took possession of Dorchester heights ; the movement which com- 
pelled the enemy to evacuate Boston. The next day, the regiment 
to which I belonged marched for New York. I was on Long 
Island when the enemy landed, and remained until the night the 
whole army retreated. I was in several small skirmishes, both on 
Long Island and York Island, before the army retired to the White 
Plains. I then belonged to Colonel Charles Webb's regiment, of 
Connecticut. 

" This regiment was in the severest part of the action on Chat- 
terdon's Hill, a little advanced of the White Plains, a few days 
after the main body of the army abandoned New York. This 
battle is memorable in the history of our country, and the regiment 
to which I belonged received the particular thanks of General 
Washington, in his public orders, for its bravery and good conduct 
on the occasion. It was particularly distinguished from all the 
other troops engaged in the action. I received a slight wound by 
a musket ball in my side, but it did not prevent me from remaining 
at the head of my company. 

" I was in the battle of Trenton, when the Hessians were taken 
in December, 1776, and being one of the youngest captains in the 
army, was promoted by General Washington the day after the 
battle, to a majority, for my conduct on that occasion. The 1st of 
January, 1777, I was in the battle of Princeton. In the campaign 
of the same year, the regiment to which I belonged served in the 
northern army. I was early in the spring ordered to Ticonderoga, 
and commanded the regiment (being the senior officer present) 
under General St. Clair, and I was with that officer in his retreat 
from that post. 

"After General St. Clair's army formed a junction with General 
Schuyler's army on the North River, at Fort Edward, the regiment 
to which I belonged was detached, and marched to Fort Schuyler, 
and relieved that post, which was besieged by General St. Leger. 



164 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

" On the retreat of General Schuyler's army from Fort Edward, 
I commanded the rear guard of the army, and, being two miles in 
the rear, was attacked by a large body of British troops and Indians 
at daylight in the morning, in which action were killed and wounded 
between thirty and forty of my guard. And I received the parti- 
cular thanks of General Schuyler for my conduct on the occasion. 

"I was in the two memorable battles, on the 19th of September 
and the 7th of October, on Bemis' heights, against General Bur- 
goyne's army, previous to its surrender. In the action of the 1 9th 
of September, I commanded a detachment of three hundred men, 
who fought the principal part of the afternoon, and more than one 
half of them were killed or wounded. 

"On the 7th of October, I likewise commanded a detachment 
from the brigade which assisted in attacking the enemy on the left 
of our position, defeated him, followed him to the right of his lines, 
stormed his entrenchments, and took and held possession of the 
right of his position, which compelled him to retreat to Saratoga, 
and there to capitulate. 

" After the memorable event of the capitulation of General Bur- 
goyne's army, the regiment to which I belonged was ordered to 
Pennsylvania, to join the army under the command of General 
Washington. I remained with the army the winter of 1777, at 
Valley Forge ; and in the spring of 1778, when the British army 
evacuated Philadelphia, I was in the battle of Monmouth. 

"From December, 1778, to May, 1779, I commanded the Ame- 
rican posts in advance of the White Plains, near Kingsbridge, 
during which time I had various skirmishes with the enemy. In 
May, 1779, the principal part of the British army advanced up the 
North River to Verplank's and Stoney Point, and I was ordered to 
retreat before them to West Point. 

" I then joined the light infantry, under the command of General 
Wayne, and was in the memorable attack on Stoney Point, with a 
separate command of four hundred light infantry. 

" For my conduct on this occasion I received the particular 
thanks of General Wayne, General Washington, and congress. 

" In the summer and autumn of 1780, 1 commanded the advanced 
posts of the army, and in December of that year, I commanded an 
expedition against the enemy, stationed at Morrissina, which was 
successful, and for which I received the thanks of General Wash- 
ington, in his general orders to the army, and likewise the thanks 
of congress. General Washington, in his orders, I well remember, 



APPENDIX A. 165 

made use of these words : ' He thanked me for my judicious ar- 
rangements in the plan of operations, and for my intrepidity and 
valour in the execution.' 

" From the conclusion of the revolutionary war I have lived with 
the respect of my countrymen, and have enjoyed repeated marks 
of their confidence in the olfices which have been bestowed upon 
me. When I found that the independence, for which I had so 
often fought, was assailed, — that again my country must appeal to 
arms to aA r enge her wrongs, and to protect her rights, — I felt that 
I might yet do her some service. For though many years had 
passed since I had fought under her standard, and though my own 
arm might not have had its wonted strength, yet my spirit was un- 
broken, and my devotion to her unimpaired. I thought in the 
field, where there could be but few who had any military expe- 
rience, what I had learned in the most active scenes of a seven 
years' war, might be useful. I fondly hoped that in my age, as 
well as in my youth, I might render services that should deserve 
the gratitude of my country. That if I fell by the sword of her 
enemies, my grave would be moistened with the tears of my coun- 
trymen ; that my descendants would be proud of my name and 
fame. But how vain is anticipation ! I am now accused of crimes 
which would blast my former honors, and transmit my memory 
with infamy to posterity. And in that hideous catalogue, there is 
none from the imputation of which my nature and my feelings 
have more recoiled than from that of cowardice, to which I am to 
answer." 

"The appearance of General Hull was venerable and prepossessing. 
Beneath snowy locks, of sixty winters' bleaching, he exhibited a counte- 
nance as fresh and blooming as a youth of eighteen. His eloquence was 
perspicuous and graceful." — American History. 

No. 3. 
Letter from. Captain Wool to Colonel Van Rensselaer. 

"Buffaloe, Oct. 23, 1812. 

" Dear Sir, — I have the honour to communicate to you the 
circumstances attending the storming of Queenstown battery, on 
the 13th instant 5 with those which happened previously you are 
already well acquainted. 

" In pursuance of your order, we proceeded round the point 
and ascended the rocks, which brought us partly in rear of the 



166 SIR ISAAC BROCK. 

battery. We took it without much resistance. I immediately 
formed the troops in rear of the battery, and fronting the village, 
when I observed General Brock with his troops formed, consisting 
of four companies of the 49th regiment, and a few militia, marching 
for our left flank. I immediately detached a party of one hundred 
and fifty men, to take possession of the heights above Queenstown 
battery, and to hold General Brock in check ; but in consequence 
of his superior force they retreated. I sent a reinforcement ; 
notwithstanding which, the enemy drove us to the edge of the 
bank : when, with the greatest exertions, we brought the troops to 
a stand, and ordered the officers to bring their men to a charge as 
soon as the ammunition was expended, which was executed with 
some confusion, and in a few moments the enemy retreated. We 
pursued them to the edge of the heights, when Colonel M'Donell 
had his horse shot from under him, and himself was mortally 
wounded. In the interim, General Brock, in attempting to rally 
his forces, was killed, when the enemy dispersed in every direction. 
As soon as it was practicable, I formed the troops in a line on the 
heights fronting the village, and immediately detached flanking 
parties, which consisted of Captain Machesney, of the Cth regiment, 
Lieutenant Smith and Ensign Grosvenor, with a small detachment 
of riflemen, who had that moment arrived ; at the same time, I 
ordered Lieutenant Ganesvoort and Lieutenant Randolph, with a 
detachment of artillery, to drill out an eighteen pounder which had 
been previously spiked, and if possible to bring it to bear upon the 
village. The wounded and prisoners I ordered to be collected, and 
sent to the guard-house. About this time, which was about three 
or four o'clock in the afternoon, Lieut. -Colonel Christie arrived, 
and took the command. He ordered me across the river to get 
my wounds dressed. I remained a short time. Our flanking 
parties had been driven in by the Indians ; but General Wadsworth 
and other officers arriving, we had a short skirmish with them, and 
they retreated, and I crossed the river. 

" The officers engaged in storming the battery, were Captains 
Wool and Ogilvie ; Lieutenants Kearney, Hugouin, Carr, and 
Simmons, of the 43d regiment ; Lieutenants Ganesvoort and 
Randolph, of the light artillery, and Major Lush, of the militia. 

" I recommend to your particular notice Lieutenants Randolph, 
Carr, and Kearney, for their brave conduct exhibited during the 
whole of the action. I have the honour to be," &c. 



APPENDIX A. 167 

Note. — Captaiu Wool, in stating that he was opposed to four companies 
of the 49th, only doubled the number of companies ; but this exaggeration 
is a trifle compared with the following gross and hudibrastic mis-statements, 
relative to the battle of Queenston in " Ramsay's History of the United 
States," viz: — "The 49th British regiment, signalized in Egypt under 
Colonel, since Lieut.-General, Brock, and usually called the " Egyptian 
Invincibles," was among the prominent corps, and was led by its favorite 
commander. In the second engagement, this regiment of British regulars, 
six hundred strong, encountered a body of three hundred and twenty 
American regulars, supported by a few militia and volunteers, the whole 
under Colonel Chrystie. They mutually resorted to the bayonet, and after 
a bloody conflict, the famous invincibles yielded to the superior energy of 
their antagonists, although the latter were so far inferior in numbers. 
They were rallied by Lieut.-General Brock, who was killed in conducting 
them a second time to the charge. The American prisoners were kindly 
treated by this brave regiment, who, after the battle was over, acknowledged 
they had never opposed more gallant adversaries." — The 49th, not having 
been with the British army in Egypt, could not be called the " Egyptian 
Invincibles," and instead of this regiment, six hundred strong, being led 
by Major (not Lieutenant) General Brock, only the flank companies were 
present, with a small body of militia, together about three hundred men. 
In fact, the head quarters of the 49th were at Kingston, one hundred and 
eighty miles distant, with, we believe, the whole of the battalion companies ; 
and therefore, the assertion that the "famous invincibles" yielded to far 
inferior numbers, is something worse than ridiculous. Such, however, is 
the correctness of this American historian on the subject, and with such 
materials is history too often compiled. — Ed. 

No. 4. 

Extract from Jefferson s Correspondence. — Monticello, Oct. 1, 1812. 
" I fear that Hull's surrender has been more than the mere loss 
of a year to us. Besides bringing on us the whole mass of savage 
nations, whom fear, and not affection, had kept in quiet, there is 
danger, that in giving time to an enemy who can send reinforce- 
ments of regulars faster than we can raise them, they may strengthen 
Canada and Halifax beyond the assailment of our lax and divided 
powers. Perhaps, however, the patriotic efforts from Kentucky 
and Ohio, by recalling the British force to its upper posts, may ye'- 
give time to Dearborn to strike a blow below. Effectual possession 
of the river from Montreal to the Chaudiere, which is practicable, 
would give us the upper country at our leisure, and close for ever 
the scenes of the tomahawk and scalping knife." 



APPENDIX B. 



No. 1. 

Postscript of the 'Courier.' — London, July 25, 1826. 

"The following extract of a letter was this morning received at 
Lloyd's. It is dated Malta, June 26, and gives an account of a 
serious affray between his Majesty's frigate Sybille and some Greek 
pirates in the Mediterranean, attended with a considerable loss of 
life on both sides. These daring outrages must at once be put an 
end to, and the perpetrators of them signally punished. If the 
Greek government have the power to restrain them, it is at once 
their interest and their duty to do so ; but, at all events, our own 
government will take prompt and decisive measures for protecting 
the British flag, as well as British lives and property. 

" ' The Sybille frigate arrived here on Saturday, after having had 
a serious affair with two Greek pirates off Candia, the crews of 
which got on shore and attacked the Sybille's boats with such im- 
petuosity, that twelve officers and men were killed, and twenty-nine 
wounded ; of the latter an officer, Lieutenant Tupper, and three 
men have died since their arrival here. The first lieutenant, 
Gordon, had three balls lodged in him, and a midshipman, Mr. 
Edmonstone, had his chin shot away ; another midshipman, and, 
I believe, the assistant-surgeon, were killed in the engagement. 

" ' The pirate vessels were destroyed, and a great number of the 
pirates killed. 

" ' The piracies in the Levant have become most alarming, for 
the Greeks attack all vessels, and frequently maltreat the crews.' " 

No. 2. 

Extract from the Postscript of the Guernsey ' Star.' — July 31, 1826. 

" The sympathy that the Greek cause has excited in England is 
spreading rapidly in France, but in reality one half the Greeks are 
not worth saving : the robberies and murders they have lately 
committed will prove this assertion. But what will the brave 
Miaulis feel when he sees that some of his desperate countrymen 



APPENDIX B. 169 

have destroyed a Tupper, a name to which he is so much indebted ? 
There is little doubt but that the Greeks are harassed and driven to 
desperation, but they ought to respect every thing that is English." 

No. 3. 
Extract from " Whychcotte of St. Johns." — 2 vols., London, 1834. 

After some favorable notices of the late Captain Honorable Sir 
Robert Spencer, then commanding the Naiad frigate, on the Medi- 
terranean station, the author proceeds : — 

" Though it is rather difficult, in a time of such complete inacti- 
vity, actually to ' distinguish one's self,' yet it is somewhat singular, 
that more marked and decisive characters should not display them- 
selves on the arena of a large station such as the Mediterranean. 
On looking back to those most prominent at this period, there 
were few who stood forth in any particular position which pointed 
them out from the general run of their profession. Sir Samuel, 
then Captain, Pechell, of the Sybil, was among the few, — nay, he 
was almost the sole exception. He was on intimate terms with 
Sir Robert Spencer, whose character his somewhat resembled. 
Like Sir Robert, he had his caprices and prejudices ; and, like St. 
Vincent, he could shew the wrong side of his tongue occasionally; 
but he was noted for being a smart officer, and having his crew 
under admirable discipline. Add to this, the gunnery of the Naiad 
and of the Sybil were among the boasts of the station. 

" Sir Samuel had some fantastic notions about the aristocracy of 
naval officers, but this did not prevent him from giving a severe 

lesson to a certain Captain , son of Sir T. B , then serving 

on board his ship as a junior lieutenant, who had been promoted 
while a beardless boy, over the heads of many old and experienced 
officers, through the overwhelming interest of his indefatigable 
parent. As the story then ran, it appeared that this youth was as 
ignorant of his profession and as unequal to his duty as any young 
gentleman 'promoted through friendship' could possibly desire. 
Sir Samuel, justly indignant, refused to allow the lieutenant to take 
charge of the watch, which it was his proper office to keep, and 
promoted to the trust the mate of the lower deck, a passed mid- 
shipman ; while the lieutenant received orders to carry into execu- 
tion a subordinate task. Nor was this all. Strange to say, Mr. 

was compelled to sign a written bulletin, declaring himself, 

by his own admission, to be utterly incapable of performing the 



170 LIEUTENANT TUPPER. 

duties of a lieutenant. This was rigorous it must be acknowledged. 
JVas it not also just ? 

" Sir Samuel, like his brother captain, Sir Robert, chiefly exercised 
his industry in reaping the scanty laurels of his profession among 
the pirates of the Archipelago. Of several rencontres, one in the 
island of Candia became noted. It was a brave action, but unfor- 
tunate in its issue. Some pirates having taken refuge in one of the 
bays of the island, and established themselves in a secure position 
on the shore, Sir Samuel sent in his boats manned and armed to 
the attack. The Greek pilot, who belonged to the Sybil, declined 
accompanying the party, aware of the desperate character of the 
defendants, and the inaccessible nature of their position. He very 
sagaciously observed, that ' he had nothing whatever to do with the 
fighting of the ship ; and that if he fell, — for few would escape, — 
government would never trouble themselves about securing from 
starvation his wife and family.' 

" The boats started under the command of Lieutenant Tupper.* 
On their approaching within shot of the Greeks, who were hidden 
by the rocks, the murderous aim of Candian rifles made itself appa- 
rent. Four shots had not been fired by their determined antagonists 
before the lieutenant and coxswain were for ever dismissed from 
mortal struggle, and five others severely wounded. 

"Enraged to absolute fury by their loss, the men cheered, pulled 
in with redoubled quickness, and landed. A fatal affray took place. 
It ended in their being obliged to retreat, leaving a prisoner in the 
hands of the pirates. Not one escaped uninjured ; and the ablest 
man among them had to row off to the frigate, by shifting his oar 
from one side to the other, and stooping down at intervals, to 
escape the shot fired at him by the ruffians on shore. 

" Their prisoner the pirates threatened with instant immolation 
before the eyes of his shipmates, unless certain conditions of non- 
molestation were conceded by Sir Samuel. The latter rightly 
estimated the life of his marine far higher than the gratification of 
anv petty feelings of vengeance, and sending on shore a flag of 
truce, recovered his man. 

" Such, as nearly as I can recollect at this distance of time, were 
the heads of an affair which then excited no slight feeling on the 
station. The Sybil's time having expired, she was soon afterwards 
ordered home, inspected at Spithead, and great praise awarded to 
Sir Samuel Pechell for the high state of excellence to which he had 

* Incorrect — Lieutenant Gordon commanded the boats. — Ed. 



APPENDIX B. 



171 



raised the science of gunnery on board his frigate." — Second 
Edition, Vol I., pp. 23/ to 242. 

No. 4. 
Extract relative to the late Captain Edzoard Gordon. 

" The Highflyer tender unexpectedly returned to us,* having 
fallen in with a heavy American privateer. A severe action had 
ensued, in which her brave commander, Lieutenant Lewis, was 
killed. Mr. Gordon, midshipman, (the same who so distinguished 
himself up the Archipelago in the boats of the Sybille, and who 
commanded the Acorn, sloop of war, when she foundered on the 
coast of America,) gallantly continued the contest till the enemy 
hauled oft"; but the Highflyer was so cut up in her rigging that 
Mr. Gordon was unable to follow her. She had only one long gun 
a- midships, and her crew were greatly exposed from having no 
bulwark, while their heavy antagonist was sheltered by one. The 
conduct of Mr. Gordon, who was then quite a lad, was highly 
commended by the rear admiral, and, as an earnest of his opinion, 
young Gordon was permitted to keep the command of the vessel, 
and dispatched to fulfil the orders of his late commander, after 
removing all the wounded on board the Marlborough, and filling 
up the vacancies in his own ship's company. 

" It appears the vessel that engaged the Highflyer was the 
American privateer ' Roger Quarles, of fourteen guns, and full of 
men.' (Vide Niles' Register, Vol. IV., p. 228.) The American 
account states the action to have lasted from nine o'clock till eleven 
p. m. As the Americans are not in the habit of exaggerating their 
own force, this circumstance throws additional credit upon the 
gallant conduct of the late Captain Edward Gordon, and must be 
read by his friends with melancholy satisfaction." — Recollectio?is of 
a Naval Life, by Captain James Scott, R. N. — Vol. III., p. 117. 

No. 5. 

From a Portsmouth Neivspaper, December 31, 1825. — See p. 42. 

" This morning sailed the Aurora for Hydra, having on board 
forty of the crew of the Greek brig of war, Cimoni, lately wrecked 
on the isle of Alderney, from whence they were taken to Guernsey, 
where they received the greatest kindness and attention from the 

* The Chesapeake station under the command of Rear Admiral Sir 
George Cockburn. — Ed. 



172 LIEUTENANT TUPPER. 

lieutenant-governor, Sir John Colbome, and the inhabitants, who, 
in addition to having provided them with food, clothing, and lodging 
whilst on the island, raised for them a most liberal subscription, 
and gave five pounds to each of the crew on their leaving Guernsey. 
We are requested to state, that for the kindness they have received 
from the governor and inhabitants of Guernsey, they feel the deepest 
gratitude, and beg to return their most grateful thanks. It is 
perhaps impossible to express the high sense they entertain of the 
kindness they experienced better than in their own words, which 
were : ' The people of Guernsey behaved to us like angels, not 
like men.' " 

No. 6. 

Transcript of a Letter from George B. Hamilton, Esq., to the Editor, 

partly relating to Lieutenant E. JV. Tupper, and dated Admiralty, 

June 7, 1825. 

" Lord Melville has directed me to acknowledge the receipt of 
your letter of the 26th March last, with its inclosure, and to return 
you his lordship's thanks for the observations you have thought 
proper to make ; but the subject to which you refer has lately been 
under the consideration of the Board of Admiralty. 

" With regard to your brother's claims to promotion, Lord 
Melville has directed me to state that he is perfectly aware of them, 
and took an opportunity, not long since, of recommending him to 
the commander in chief in the Mediterranean, and I have no doubt 
but his advancement will be the result of such recommendation 
at no very distant period." 



APPENDIX C. 



No. 1. 
[Translated from the Spanish. — See page 50.] 
" Dr. Francisco Altes, Vice-Secretary of the most excellent Constitutional 
Ayuntamiento of this city of Barcelona, capital of the province 
of Catalonia. 

" I certify that in the dreadful conflagration which, on the 13 th 
instant so unfortunately broke out in the house of Dr. Juan Planas, 
in the street of Regomir, at the corner of that of Lignas, among 
all the worthy citizens, who with the greatest intrepidity impeded 
its progress, the young Englishman, Don Guillermo Tupper, out- 
shone in valour and heroism, — several times exposing his life to 
suffocate the flames, which would certainly have burnt down the 
whole barrier. And in order that the gratitude of the most excellent 
Ayuntamiento may be manifested in the most authentic manner 
for his resolute and beneficent courage, knowing how to appreciate 
so sublime an effort in favour of humanity, the present certificate is 
drawn out by order of their excellencies. 

" Signed by my hand, and authorised with the 
common seal of my office. 

"Francisco Altes, Vice-Secretary. 
"En Barcelona, February 17, 1821." 

No. 2. 

Extracts from Lieutenant Bowers Naval Adventures. — 2 vols., 
London, 1833. 

"Chiloe, from its geographical position, good harbours, and 
numerous resources, in the hands of an enlightened and enterprising 
people, might soon become the key to the eastern part of the South 
Pacific 

" San Carlos, the principal port, situated at the north-west extre- 
mity of the island, in latitude 41° 45' south, is of easy entrance in 
tolerably clear weather, and is a good harbour at all seasons, there 
being several anchoring grounds. Well defended by art not less 



174 COLONEL TUPPER. 

than nature, it is a place of great strength, capable of resisting any 

ordinary means of attack The town of Castro lies on the 

east side, between which and the main are scattered an archipelago 
of smaller islands, about eighty in number, all inhabited, and the 
greater part even more susceptible of a ready cultivation than their 
principal, Chiloe, which is nearly one uniform dense forest of 
immense trees. The export trade consists of hams, lard, and 
timber Hogs are numerous Fish is good and abun- 
dant. Of shell fish, more especially, there is a surprising variety, 
on which, with potatoes, and the bucha, or rock weed, the indigent 

classes subsist The north winds blow long and heavily during 

the winter season, and rain, often in torrents, prevails more or less 
the greater part of the year 

" The population of San Carlos and Castro, including the garri- 
son of the former, is computed at about eleven thousand ; the total 
of all the islands a hundred thousand.* The inhabitants, principally 
Creoles, descended from Spaniards and natives, with some few of 
the aborigines, are a strong, active, and well formed race. 

"The Chilotes are brave, and make better soldiers than others 
along the coast. AVhen I last visited the island, in 1828, they 
mustered fourteen thousand able bodied men,* enrolled by Quinta- 

nilla as militia In the time of the royalists, a large garrison 

was kept up, which was regularly paid from the royal treasury at 
Lima. 

" Conception, or Penco, for the goodness of its port, (Talca- 
huano,) the salubrity of its climate, and the fertility of the neigh- 
bouring district, is superior to every other part of Chile, and, in my 

opinion, much to be preferred as the site of its capital 

Conception is rapidly increasing in trade and importance, promising, 
ere long, to become one of the most flourishing sea port towns in 
South America Plenty of good coal is found in the neigh- 
bourhood, as well as materials for brick and lime. The anchorage 
of this magnificent bay, extending from one extreme to the other a 
distance of five miles, and sheltered by the fine island of Quin- 
quina, is excellent ; the shores abound with shell fish, and the 
muscles in particular, large and fat, are held in much estimation. 

" Between Conception and Valparaiso is the river and port of 
Maule, the ingress and egress to which are rendered difficult by a 
bar formed of the drifting sand, that often shifts the course of the 
channel, which however is always sufficiently deep fur vessels of 

* These numbers are evidently over-rated. — Ed. 



APPENDIX C. 175 

three hundred tons The river is navigable for small vessels 

and barges, through a fertile and well inhabited country, where 
every article of produce is cheaper than at Conception or Valparaiso, 
as far as the city of Talca." 

(See page 53.) 

Lord Cochrane, after the capture of Valdivia, attacked Chiloe in 
1820, but was repulsed with some loss. Major (now the celebrated 
General) Miller was severely wounded at Chiloe, and in his me- 
moirs speaks highly of the courage and devotion of the Chile 
soldiers, who exposed their lives to bring him off, when his wounds 
rendered him incapable of retreating. 

By a census of 1827, the population of the archipelago of Chiloe 
was ascertained to be forty-three thousand two hundred and ninety 
souls. Public instruction was gaining ground, and four thousand 
four hundred and eighty-nine children then attended the schools. 
Captain Tupper wrote in 1824, that Quintanilla had done much 
towards the advancement of these islands, that they were covered 
with sheep, and were in a high state of cultivation. He added, 
that potatoes grew almost spontaneously, and that the country was 
beautiful, much like England. — Ed. 

No. 3. 
Extract from " Kotzebues Voyage round the JVorld." 

At anchor off Talcahuana, January, 1824. — Speaking of the 
president, General Freire, at that time in Conception, and about to 
proceed with three thousand men against Chiloe, the captain 
observes : — 

" Freire, who had already distinguished himself as a general, is 
a stately looking man, at that time about forty-five years of age, 
and of a very agreeable exterior ; he was born at Talcahuana, of 
very poor parents, and, without enjoying any particular advantage 
of education, he raised himself, by his own merit alone, to the high 
rank he occupies. 

" The little town (Talcahuana) was soon filled with warlike 
tumult. A grenadier regiment from Conception marched in with 
drums beating, and a very good band playing. The uniform was 
in the French fashion, clean and substantial ; the muskets were in 
the best order." 



176 COLONEL TUPPER. 

No. 4. 
[See Translation, page 91.] 

" Los Gefes y Officiales del Batallon Pudeto, tl sus Compatriotas. 

" El Batallon Pudeto siempre fiel a sus juramentos, protesta 
sostener la Constitucion. Conciudadanos, confiad en este honor 
que jamas fue tachado. Enemigos del orden, temblad : ya cono- 
ceis a Pudeto. 

" S. E. el Capitan General Freire nos lleva a la victoria. Su 
nombre electriza el corazon de los valientes, y garantiza el empleo 
de la fuerza ante el pacifico ciudadano. 

" Quedara escarmentado para siempre el infame Prieto, ese militar 
sin honor, que burlando en repetidas ocasiones los mas sagrados 
compromisos, aspira al despotismo por los medios mas inicuos. 

" Valparaiso, Enero 27 dc 1830." 

No. 5. 
Cancharayada and Lircai. — See page 97. 

General Miller, in his memoirs, after stating that the Spanish 
general, Osorio, advanced from Talcahuana towards Santiago, with 
about six thousand effective men, and that to meet him General 
San Martin formed a junction with the Director O'Higgins and 
Colonel Las Heras, at San Fernando, the united patriot forces 
amounting to seven thousand infantry, fifteen hundred cavalry, 
thirty-three field pieces, and two howitzers ; thus continues : — 

" Ignorant of the numbers and movements of his opponents, 
the royalist general crossed the river Maule, and was proceeding 
on to Santiago, when, on the 18th of March, (1818,) the van guard 
of each army came in contact at Quechereguas. In the affair which 
took place, the royalist advance was worsted. Osorio having 
ascertained the superiority of the patriots, countermarched with 
evident precipitation. General San Martin obliqued to his own 
left, for the purpose of interposing between the royalists and the 
ford of the Maule. The two armies crossed the river Lircay at 
the same time, at the distance of four miles from each other, on 
the morning of the 19th, and continued to march in almost parallel 
but gradually approximating columns over five leagues of open 
country. The patriots advanced in the finest order, and with the 
utmost regularity. The Spaniards quickened their march in some 
slight confusion, and were the first to reach the town of Talca, in 



APPENDIX C. 177 

front of which they took up a position an hour before sunset, 
amongst enclosed fields. The patriot columns approached, and, 
whilst they drew up in line on the plain of Cancharayada, some 
sharp skirmishing took place. A regiment of Chileno cavalry 
charged, but, having committed the error of getting into a gallop at 
too great a distance from the enemy, formed behind a ravine which 
had not been perceived, it was repulsed, but retired in good order, 
under cover of the Chileno artillery, which was commanded by 
Lieut. -Colonel Blanco, and particularly well served. On this occa- 
sion, Lieutenant Gerard, a brave young Scotchman, who had distin- 
guished himself the day before at Quechereguas, was killed. He 
formerly belonged to the British rifle corps. 

" General San Martin purposed to attack on the morning of the 
20th. The situation of the royal army had become extremely criti- 
cal. The able manner in which General San Martin manoeuvred on 
the preceding day, gave the royalists little room to hope for success 
in risking a battle ; whilst to retire to the difficult ford of the Maule, 
still five leagues off, in the presence of a superior enemy, threatened 
to expose their army to destruction." — Vol. I., page 173. 

General Miller next proceeds to relate the surprise of the patriots, 
during the night, by a Spanish column, which completely dispersed 
them. 

No. 6. 

Brief Extracts relative to the late Colonel Tupper. 

"Few situations can be more distressing than those of foreign 
officers, who, having entered the service of the new republics, in 
order to combat the foreign enemy, have in the end found them- 
selves involved in the domestic disputes of their adopted country, 
and at times either from principle, old attachments, or other strong 
causes, have been in a manner obliged to take active service with 
one or other of the parties. 

"These observations have been elicited from us on reading a 
letter from Chile, which, although dated in December last, throws 
some light upon the situation in which the late Colonel Tupper was 
placed ; an officer who, in the war for the independence of Chile, 
was one of its most distinguished heroes, and had gathered ' golden 
opinions from all sorts of people,' and yet he fell a victim to civil 
dissensions." — British Packet, Buenos Ayr es, July 17, 1830. 

A letter from Valparaiso, of the 20th April, says : " In a battle 
near the Maule, on the 17th of this month, eight hundred men fell. 
M 



178 COLONEL TUPPER. 

Freire is defeated, and three foreign officers, among whom is un- 
happily Tupper, were killed." — English Chronicle, August 24, 1830. 

Conclusion of a letter, dated Santiago, May 14, relative to the 
affairs of Chile : " Freire with seventeen hundred, and Prieto with 
two thousand two hundred men, met again at Cancharayada, when 
the former was beaten ; sixteen officers and six hundred rank and 
file were killed. Amongst them were Tupper, Captain Bell, of the 
navy, and, it is believed, Rondisoni. Freire and Viel escaped with 
three hundred cavalry, and have made their way past Santiago, 
towards Coquimbo. Troops have been sent against them. Prieto 
remains at Talca. We do not know what has occurred at Con- 
ception. 

" Tupper was an extraordinary fine young man of twenty-five. 
His death is sincerely lamented by all parties." — Times, London, 
September 3, 1830. 

No. 7. 

Extracts from a weekly publication printed at Paris, entitled " Le 
Semeur, Journal religieux, politique, philosophique et litteraire" 
dated April 4, 1832. — Article, "Souvenir d'un sejour au Chili." 

"J'etais fort curieux de voir l'interieur d'un couvent, et, grace 
a l'obligeance du general Pinto, vice-president de la republique et 
chef du gouvernement, j'obtins la permission d'en visiter un. Je 
m'y rendis avec le lieutenant-colonel Tupper, aide-de-camp du 
vice-president. Ma visite aux religieuses capucines m'offrit un 
int^ret tout particulier. Leur ordre est l'un des plus severes ; leur 
nourriture est grossiere, et leur lit ne se compose que de trois 
planches qui, apres leur mort, leur servent de cercueil. On nous 
fit entrer dans une salle qui, pour tout ameublement, n'avait que 
trois ou quatre chaises, placees contre la muraille. On nous pria 
de nous asseoir, et, au bout de dix minutes, les nonnes entrerent. 
Elles £taient au nombre de vingt a trente. Elles s'agenouillerent 
en face de nous, sans oter leurs voiles, et se mirent presque aussitot 
a parler du monde avec le colonel Tupper, qui se trouvait connaitre 
les families de plusieurs d'entre elles. Elles paraissaient tres- 
curieuses d'apprendre des nouvelles de Santiago. L'administration 
du couvent leur est confine, et se divise en plusieurs departemens. 
Les unes s'occupent de la cuisine, d'autres du jardin, d'autres encore 
de l'entretien de la maison. Elles nous assurerent toutes qu'elles 
etaient parfaitement heureuses et qu'elles ne desiraient pas changer 
de sort. Le colonel Tupper leur dit qu'un decret rdcent du congres 



APPENDIX C. 179 

deTendait de ramener de force dans les couvens les religieuses qui 
auraient profite" de la permission d'en sortir ; il leur apprit aussi 
qu'au Perou plusieurs communautes avaient dtaient forceps de 
quitter leurs monasteres 

" J'ai deja exprime mon opinion sur l'importance qu'il y aurait 
a donner aux jeunes Chiliens une Education liberale, et a les mettre 
a meme de recueillir des idees superieures a celles qu'ils peuvent 
puiser dins leur patrie. Les Chiliens sont jaloux des etrangers qui 
prennent du service chez eux, et il est assez naturel qu'ils le soient, 
quoiqu'on ne puisse nier qu'ils aient de grandes obligations a plu- 
sieurs de ceux qui ont fait du Chili leur patrie adoptive. Depuis 
mon retour en Europe, un de ces hommes, digne dune haute 
estime, a cesse de vivre. Je veux parler du colonel Tupper, qui a 
ete fait prisonnier a la tete de son regiment, et qui, apres avoir ete 
tenu, pendant une heure, dans l'incertitude sur son sort, fut cruelle- 
ment mis a mort par les ennemis. Le Colonel Tupper etait un homme 
d'une grande bravoure et d'un esprit eclaire" ; ses formes £taient 
athletiques, et 1' expression de sa physionomie pleine de franchise. 
II se serait distingue partout oil il aurait ete employe, et dans quel- 
que situation qu'il eut 6te place\ N'est-il pas deplorable que de tels 
hommes en soient reduits a se consacrer a une cause e^rangere ? 

"■ J'espere que le temps n'est pas eloigne ou Ton saura apprecier 
au Chili le patriotisme et l'£nergie, dont le colonel Tupper a donne" 
l'exemple. D'autres hommes eminens, tels que le general Bena- 
vente et don Pedro Palarzuchos ont fait preuve aussi d'un caractere 
desinteresse et gen^reux ; mais ils ont besoin d'etre soutenus par 
l'opinion publique, et cette opinion elle-meme ne peut se former 
que si de solides principes religieux et politiques jettent de profondes 
racines dans le caractere national, et si la tolerance laisse un libre 
acces a la Parole de Dieu." 

No. 8. 

Extract from, a Pamphlet, published at Lima, in 1831, by General 
Freire, in exposition of his conduct during the civil war in Chile, 
1829-1830. 

" No entra en mi plan justificar los movimientos estratejicos que 
precedieron a la batalla de Lircay. La desproporcion entre las 
fuerzas belijerantes era monstruosa. De nada Servian con esta 
immensa desventaja, ni las maniobras de la tactica, ni los prodijios 

del valor. Los liberales fueron derrotados ;Ojala pudiera 

echar un velo, no sobre la historia de un vencimiento, que ni 



180 COLONEL TUPPER. 

suponia valor, ni talento en el vencedor, sino sobre las horrorosas 
crueldades que siguieron a la batalla ! Los salvajes mas feroces, 
los salteadores mas desalmados se avergonzarian de ejecutar las 
ordenes que el ejercito faccioso recibio del jeneral Prieto, y 
que supo desempenar con funesta exactitud. Tupper. . . . sombra 
ilustre del mas valiente de los militares, del mas apreciable de los 
hombres : sombra de un heroe a quien hubieran alzado estktuas 
Grecia y Roma : tu asesinato espantoso sera vengado. Si no bay 
castigo visible para tu verdugo, la justicia divina lo tomara a su 
cargo. Ella pedira cuenta de esa infame sentencia pronunciada 
contra todo estranjero, por un bombre que a la sazon era el juguete 
y el pupilo de un estranjero vagabundo, que habia debido su eleva- 
cion y el pan que comia, a la jenerosidad de Chile." 

TRANSLATION. 

"It does not enter into my plan to justify tbe movements which 
preceded the battle of Lircay. The disproportion between the 
contending forces was excessive. Neither tactics nor prodigies of 
valour could avail against this immense disadvantage. The liberals 
were routed. Would that I covdd throw a veil not only over a 
conquest, which proves neither courage nor talent in the conqueror, 
but also over the horrid cruelties which succeeded the battle. The 
most furious savages, the most unprincipled bandits would have 
been ashamed to execute the orders which the rebel army received 
from General Prieto, and yet which were executed with mournful 
fidelity. Tupper — illustrious shade of the bravest of soldiers, of 
the most estimable of men ; shade of a hero to whom Greece and 
Rome would have erected statues — your dreadful assassination will 
be avenged. If there be no visible punishment for your murderer, 
Divine vengeance will overtake him. It will demand an account 
of that infamous sentence pronounced against all strangers by a 
man* who at the time was the pupil and the tool of a vagabond 
stranger, f indebted for his elevation and his bread to the generosity 
of Chile." 

No. 9. 

Extract of a Letter to the Editor relative to Colonel Tupper s attack 
on the brig of war Achilles, off Talcahuano, dated Conception, 
28th May, 1832. 
" All at this moment was confusion, and your brother's efforts to 

restore the attack unavailing. After knocking down in the boat 

* General Prieto. t Garrido, a Spanish deserter. 



APPENDIX C. 181 

one of his volunteers, who refused to assist in returning to the 
vessel, he was compelled to proceed to the nearest shore, — the 
island of Quiriquina. Here part of his companions took refuge in 
the underwood ; your brother remained with the wounded and 
dying sailor in the bottom of the boat, with a military officer, 
Captain La Rosa, (of whom, I believe, mention is made in General 
Miller's memoirs,) and two of his own soldiers. His first thought 
was now to retire to the other side of the island, opposite to the 
part of the main land of the promontory of Talcahuano, marked 
in the charts Plata Creek, and, if closely pursued in the morning, 
to swim across. But Captain La Rosa (formerly accustomed to 
the sea) volunteering to take an oar, your brother, notwithstanding 
his wounded hand, at once seized the other ; and the two, during 
the night, pulled across with the wounded man and two soldiers 
from Sandy Point of the island to the opposite shore, near a point 
called Point Lirquez, a distance of more than a league. Here they 
buried the wounded man, who had died on the passage, in the 
sand ; and with a doubloon, which your brother fortunately had in 
his pocket, they procured horses, and rode round the bay to Talca- 
huano. The people, who returned in the boats to Talcahuano, all 
declared that Colonel Tupper had been killed ; that he had been 
seen to ascend and to fall into the water, and had not been heard 
of since. You should have been in this city to have witnessed the 
regret of his party for his supposed death : numbers proceeded to 
the port to make further inquiries. When your brother appeared 
on horseback in the square of Talcahuano, his officers and soldiers 
ran to embrace him like one risen from the dead ; the soldiers shed 
tears, and called him by the name of father, which they were in 
the habit of giving him. 

" Some days afterwards he came to the city, and a French sur- 
geon uniting his entreaties with mine, we prevailed upon him to 
suffer leeches to be applied to his breast, which had a large circle 
of coagulated blood blackening it from the severe blow, causing 
him much difficulty to breathe. He stretched himself for this pur- 
pose on my bed, a small camp bedstead, and even to this hour I 
cannot drive away the recollection of his gigantic, well proportioned 
figure, occupying and supported, as if in appearance, only by the 
little, frail bedstead. The leeches were of good service, and his 
left hand, though carrying it of necessity in a sling, healed fast. 
His stay here was short." 



APPENDIX D. 



COINCIDENCES. 

In addition to the few mentioned in the text, (see pp. 14, 34, 44, 
and 101,) the following have been selected for insertion in this 
appendix. The subject may seem strange, but it is surely one which 
affords room for innocent speculation on the attributes of that 
Almighty Being, "who can make alive and who can kill." By 
many these coincidences will be ascribed to accident ; others may 
view them as something more than special ; while all must admit 
that so many links in the chain, if the effect of chance, do appear 
to be singularly casual. 

Oh Providence ! how hidden are thy ways, — 
Who shall presume to fathom thy decrees? 
To thee let man his suppliant prayers raise, 
As thy dread mysteries he daily sees. 

Sir Isaac Brock was born on the Cth October ; made lieutenant- 
colonel 25th October, 1/97 ; commanded his regiment at the battle 
of Egmont op Zee on the 6th October, 1799 (his birth-day) ; 
colonel 30th October, 1 805 ; assumed the office of president of 
Upper Canada 9th October, 1811 ; and killed 13th October, 1812. 

War was declared by the United States on the 18th June, 1812, 
not without a strong opposition in the house of representatives, 
the division being seventy-nine to forty-nine votes. Thus this 
day, which became three years subsequently so memorable in the 
annals of Great Britain, was equally fatal to uncle and nephew, 
Major-General Brock and Lieutenant Tupper, and the forty-nine 
dissentients to the war tally with the former's favorite regiment. 
Moreover, the counter declaration of war, with the granting of 
letters of marque and reprisals, was not issued by Great Britain till 
the 13th of October, the clay on which Sir Isaac Brock was slain. 

Extract of a letter from Fordsgrove, near London, dated 27th 
June, 1806. — "Isaac left town last evening in the mail for Milford 

Haven Dear fellow ! Heaven knows when we shall see him 

again." — Thus Colonel Brock left London for the last time to 
embark for Canada on the 26th June, and his nephew, Lieutenant 



APPENDIX D. 183 

E. W. Tupper, died at Malta of his wounds on the 2b'th June, 
1826, exactly twenty years after. 

The only two British general officers hitherto killed in action in 
Canada, derived their names from two animals formerly very com- 
mon in Britain, the wolf and the brock, (the latter being the Saxon 
name for badger, and still retained in the English language,) and 
both their christian and surnames consisted of the same number of 
letters, James Wolfe and Isaac Brock. Both generals fell on the 
same day of the month, the 13th of September, 1759, and the 13th 
of October, 1812, and in places whose three first letters were the 
same, Quebec and Queenstown. 

Since the last coincidence was written, we accidentally observed 
in the Navy List for July, 1831, the following extract : — 
" Mastiff, 6, Surveying Vessel — Mediterranean. 

Lieut. Commanding James Wolfe . . Nov. 22, 1830. 

Super. Lieut, and Assist. Surveyor . . T. S. Brock. . . . Nov. 22, 1830." 

T. Saumarez Brock, great nephew of Lord De Saumarez, and a 
near relative of Sir Isaac Brock. 

As Captain Isaac Hull captured the Guerriere, so Major-General 
Isaac Brock captured Brigadier-General Hull, being the two first 
captures of any consequence made by sea and land in the late war. 

Extract of a letter from J. Savery Brock, Esq., dated York, Upper 
Canada, August 20, 181 7. — " I should also mention that last Satur- 
day I dined at Fort George, (Niagara,) by the invitation of the 
gentlemen there and its environs : we were forty-nine in number, 
and it was the anniversary of the capture of Detroit. I was invited 
without their remembering the day of the month : it was a curious 
coincidence." 

As two of Lieutenant E. W. Tupper's brothers were drowned, so 
were two of his brother lieutenants of the Sybille. 

The vacancy, to which Lieutenant Tupper was promoted, was 
occasioned by Lieutenant (now Captain Sir Thomas, Bart.) Thomp- 
son going home from Marseilles in June, 1825. The name of the 
officer, who killed his uncle William and godfather in a duel, was 
also Thompson. 

Several coincidences relative to General Wolfe and Sir Isaac 
Brock, and the latter and Lieutenant Tupper, of the Sybille, have 
already been mentioned. In Westminster Abbey there is a beau- 
tiful monument to the memory of General Wolfe, placed on a cross 
wall erected to receive it. On the other sjde of this wall is another 



184 COINCIDENCES. 

large and handsome monument to the memory of Captain Edward 
Cooke, of H. M. S. Sybille, who was mortally wounded at the 
capture of the French frigate, La Forte, in the East Indies, on the 
28th February, 1790, and died at Calcutta, Captain Cooke and 
Lieutenant Tupper being the only British officers of either rank 
mortally wounded on board the Sybille. Captain Cooke was a 
lieutenant in the Victory, at Toulon, with Lieutenant Carre Tupper, 
and also distinguished himself there. 

Captain and Lieutenants on board the Sybille frigate, June 18, 
1826, with the date of their commissions : 

Captain Sir Samuel S. Pechell, Bart., C. B. . . June 16, 1808. 
Lieutenants Edward Gordon June 30, 1813. 

„ J. O. Bliss June 17, 1825. 

„ E. W. Tupper April 14, 1826. 

„ H. A. Griffith June 5, 1826. 

All dated in June, excepting that of Lieutenant Tupper, and the 
Sybille was captured in the Greek Archipelago 1 7th June, 1794. 
Lieutenant Tupper s commission was dated in April, and he lost 
his life in June ; the commissions of Lieutenants Gordon and Bliss 
were dated in June, and they perished in April. Lieutenant Tupper 
succeeded to a vacancy which occurred in June, 1825. Lieutenant 
Gordon was made a commander 3d June, 1826, and appointed to 
command the Acorn 25th June, 1827. He perished about the 17th 
April, 1828, and Colonel Tupper was killed in Chile 1 7th April, 1830. 



APPENDIX E. 



Extract from an Account of the Public Dinner given in Guernsey, 
on Tuesday, August 29, 1826, in honour of Sir John Doyle, Bart., 
G.C.B. and K. C, formerly Lieutenant-Governor of the island. 

The health of Sir John Doyle having been drunk, he rose, and, 
after some preliminary observations, spoke as follows : — 

" Is there a profession in which you do not see native talent and 
spirit arrive at eminence ? In the commercial line I have myself 
witnessed, from this small island, two Lords Mayors of London.* 
In the arts and sciences, you can boast a Doctor John Macculloch, 
celebrated throughout Europe for his unrivalled scientific know- 
ledge ; a Jeremie, who carries off the prizes even for English 
composition, in the University of Cambridge ; a Dobree, who 
obtained a Professor's chair, and succeeded the great Porson. In 
acts of individual bravery, none can excel the youth of the island. 
It is but a few years ago that a fine young man, Captain Dobree, 
of the royal navy, with other brave natives, in trying to save a 
shipwrecked crew, sacrificed his valuable life. More fortunate was 
the generous intrepidity of Messrs. Lefebvre and Thomas Dobr£e,t 
of the same service, both of whom, at different times, jumped 
overboard, and each rescued two British seamen from a watery 
grave. In the navy and the army, the smallness of the island 
prevents your contributing so largely as the more extended portion 
of the empire ; but what you lack in quantity, you have amply 
made up in quality. Look to the annals of war : there you will 
see recorded the brilliant achievements of your gallant countrymen : 
the pubUc gazettes will show you the names of Saumarez, Brock, 
Le Marchant and Smith, with other distinguished characters in the 
higher ranks of both services, that do not at this moment occur 
to me ; for there is scarcely a family in the island that has not 
given its share to the general stock of native reputation and renown. 
— When I mention Sir Isaac Brock, General Le Marchant, Sir 

* The late Peter Perchard and Paul Lc Mesurier, Esquires,— the latter 
was also Member of Parliament for Southwark. 

t Now Lieutenants of the Royal Navy. 



186 PUBLIC DINNER. 

George Smith, in the higher, and Captain M'Crea,* Lieutenants 
La Serre* and Tupper in the junior ranks, I do from my heart 
deplore, that I must speak of those illustrious men, and brave 
youths, in the tense that is past, as, nobly prodigal of their blood 
in the service of their king and country, they have closed a life of 
glory on the bed of honor, t Their memories will long be cherished 
by a grateful country, and will live in the recollection of its ene- 
mies. — Our Saumarez, we still happily possess, not only to adorn 
and do honor to his native land, but to uphold the destinies of the 
empire, should they be endangered. His fame will be found 
recorded in every portion of the globe where the British flag has 
been known to fly. And well may our brave islander exclaim, 
with the Roman, ' Quce Regio in Terris, Nostri non plena Laboris' 
"The chairman gave — ' Colonel Evans and the garrison.' 
" Colonel Evans, after having returned thanks for the garrison 
and himself in appropriate terms, said, that lately arrived in this 
island, and finding himself surrounded by the friends and relatives 
of a great man, the loss of whom no one could lament more than 
he did, he would beg leave to propose a solemn toast to the memory 
of that heroic officer, who he scarcely need say, was Sir Isaac 
Brock. Attached to his person by official situation, as well as by 
friendship at the time of his death, he could appreciate his merits, 
and truly say that he possessed every quality that constituted a 
great man and a good soldier — brave and humane in the highest 
degree, he raised his fame in a distant country, and saved a lar<*e 
and valuable province belonging to Great Britain, by the resources 
which his own mind and energy could alone have drawn out and 
used, successfully to repel an invasion against numbers so superior, 
that resistance was generally deemed hopeless. He had to defend 
a frontier of many hundred miles with a trifling force, which he 
augmented by the influence of his popularity, and inspired by his 
example. He not only defended Upper Canada, but actually cap- 
tured a whole army, and a strong fortress ; his name will live in 
that country, and in history for ever ; and his death was lamented 
even by his enemies, or rather by the enemies of his country, for 

* These two officers, both of the 87th regiment, were killed at Talavera, in 
1809. Captain Rawdon M'Crea was only twenty years of age. 

t Colonel Le Mesurier in the higher, and Captain Le Marchant and 
Lieutenant Le Mesurier in the junior ranks were omitted, — they all fell 
in the late Peninsular war. — Captain Carey Le Marchant was aid-de-camp to 
his father, when the latter was slain at Salamanca, in 1812, and subsequently 
to Lieut.-General Hon. Sir Walter Stewart. 



APPENDIX E. 187 

he had, or could have, no enemies ; and those opposed to him, on 
learning his death, begged to join in the solemn ceremonies which 
ensued. No man was ever more, or more justly and universally 
regretted. — 'To the immortal memory of the late Sir Isaac Brock.' 

"This toast was drunk in solemn silence. 

" Sir John Doyle then rose and spoke as follows : — 

"Gentlemen, — Having received permission from the chair, I rise 
to propose a toast which woidd be well received in any society 
where the enlightened individual is known. But here I anticipate 
it will be met by acclamation and enthusiasm. I do not propose 
his health, merely because he is my friend, although I feel truly 
honored by his friendship ; and the more so, as I know that it 
originated and was cemented by his conviction of my honest zeal 
for the public good, and the deep interest I took in the welfare of 
his native land. But I give him as a public man, who, to a sound, 
vigorous, and cultivated understanding, joins a liberal and enlight- 
ened mind, — an innate love of justice, and hatred of oppression, — 
an inflexible adherence to that which appears to him to be right, — 
a man too wise to be cunning. Armed with the ' mens conscia recti,' 
he marches straight forward to his object, nor turns into the devious 
path of crooked policy, and left-handed wisdom. 

" To these qualities are added indefatigable industry, and a pa- 
tience not to be exhausted. This is the man, who, as a public 
magistrate in high station, I offer for your acceptance. Of his 
private worth, I dare not say all that I feel. He is present. You 
know him and can duly appreciate his value. You will have anti- 
cipated that I mean the Bailiff of Guernsey* I now propose 

to you ' The health of the Bailiff, and unalloyed happiness to the 
island of Guernsey.' 

" In rising to return thanks, the chairman observed, that it 
would be extraordinary indeed if his feelings were not overpowered, 
after the kind and nattering manner in which Colonel Evans, on his 
left, had treated the memory of a brother so dear to him, and after 
the praise bestowed upon himself, by the distinguished guest on his 
right. If he were deserving any part of that praise, he was more 
than rewarded by the manner in which his health had been proposed 
and received, — if he had discharged his duty, he could appeal to 
Sir John, who must so often have experienced it, whether there 
could be a pleasure, an inward satisfaction, equal to that which was 
produced by the consciousness of having performed a good action." 

* Daniel De Lisle Brock, Esq. 



APPENDIX F. 



TE-CUM-SEH. 

This celebrated aboriginal warrior, whose name occurs in the 
previous pages, was so conspicuous in the annals of the late Ame- 
rican war, for his fidelity and devotion to the British cause and for 
his attachment to Major-General Brock, that we feel it to be a 
pleasing act of justice to his memory, the more particularly as his 
talents and labours are so little known and appreciated on this side 
the Atlantic, not to conclude this volume without appending a 
brief sketch of his life, and subjoining every particular we have 
been able to collect descriptive of his conduct and character. 

Te-cum-seh, a Shawanee, was born in 17C9 or 1770, about the 
same year as his " brave brother warrior," Sir Isaac Brock. He 
may be said to have been inured to war from his childhood, as the 
Indians, with few exceptions, took part with Great Britain against 
the Americans in their contest for independence. When that in- 
dependence was achieved, the Indian nations continued in hostility, 
alleging that the United States had infringed on their territories ; 
and, in consequence, the settlers on the western frontier were for 
several years sadly harassed by their predatory incursions. These 
were the more terrible because the Indians seldom extended quar- 
ter to the men, scalping them without distinction, and spared the 
women and children only for captivity. Abhorrent as this cruel 
mode of warfare may appear, and different as it is to the more 
honorable slaughter of civilized enemies, we should not condemn it 
without remembering the many injuries the Indians had received. 
They knew from sad experience that they could place no faith in 
the whites, who had long considered them as legal prey, and too 
often treated them as the brute animals of the forest. Expelled 
from the coasts, and dispossessed of their hunting grounds, they 
had been gradually driven westward until they had too much cause 
to apprehend that the cupidity of their oppressors would be satisfied 
only with their utter extermination. " The red men are melting," 
to borrow the expressive metaphor of a celebrated Miami chief of 
that day, " like snow before the sun." Indeed it is melancholy to 



APPENDIX F. 189 

reflect that the aborigines of both continents of America have, from 
their first intercourse with Europeans, or their descendants, expe- 
rienced nothing but fraud, spoliation, cruelty, and ingratitude. 

But, to return from this digression. In 1 790, about which period 
Te-cum-seh first gave proofs of that talent and daring which so 
distinguished his after-life, General Harmer was dispatched with a 
competent force to punish these incursions ; but he was glad to 
return, with the loss of many of his men. In the following year, 
General St. Clair proceeded with another army to ravage the Miami 
and Shawanee settlements, and was even more unfortunate than his 
predecessor, as the Indians boldly advanced to meet him on the 
way, attacked his encampment, and put his troops to a total rout, 
in which the greater part were cut off and destroyed. In 1794, 
however, a much more formidable expedition, under General Wayne, 
entered the Indian territory ; the warriors gradually retired as the 
Americans advanced, but at length imprudently determined on 
making a stand. In the battle which ensued the Indians were so 
completely discomfited, that, the following year, they agreed to the 
treaty of Greenville, by which they were compelled to cede a large 
tract of country as an indemnity for past injuries. As Te-cum-seh 
had then scarcely completed his twenty-fifth year, and as the In- 
dians pay great deference to age, it is not probable that he had 
any hand in this treaty, the more especially as, from that period to 
1812, he laboured incessantly to unite the numerous aboriginal 
tribes of the North American continent in one grand confederacy, 
for the threefold purpose of endeavouring to regain their former 
possessions as far as the Ohio, of resisting the further encroach- 
ments of the whites, and of preventing the future cession of land 
by any one tribe, without the sanction of all, obtained in a general 
council. With this object he visited the different nations, and 
having assembled the elders, he enforced his disinterested views in 
strains of such impassioned and persuasive eloquence that the 
greater part promised him their co-operation and assistance. But 
to form a general alliance of so many and such various tribes 
required a higher degree of patriotism and civilization than the 
Indians had attained. From the numbers, however, who ranged 
themselves with Te-cum-seh under the British standard, on the 
breaking out of the war in 1812, it is evident that he had acquired 
no little influence over them, and that his almost incredible exer- 
tions, both of mind and body, had not been altogether thrown 
away. 



190 TE-CUM-SEH. 

In elucidation of the subsequent narrative it is necessary, ere we 
proceed further, to relate that, about the year 1804, the brother of 
Te-cum-seh proclaimed himself a prophet who had been comman- 
ded by the Great Spirit, the Creator of the red, but not of the 
white, people, to announce to his children, that the misfortunes by 
which they had been assailed arose from their having abandoned 
the mode of life which he had prescribed to them. He declared 
that they must return to their primitive habits, — relinquish the use 
of ardent spirits, — and clothe themselves in skins, and not in wool- 
lens. His fame soon spread among the surrounding nations, and 
his power to perform miracles was generally believed. He was 
joined by many, and not a few came from a great distance, and 
cheerfully submitted to much hardship and fatigue, that they might 
behold the prophet, and then return. He first established himself 
at Greenville, within the boundary of the United States, but the 
inhabitants of Ohio becoming alarmed at the immense assemblage 
of Indians on their frontier, the American authorities insisted on 
his removal. Accordingly he proceeded, in 1808, to the Wabash, 
and fixed his residence on the northern bank of that river, near the 
mouth of the Tippecanoe. Here his popularity declined, but 
through the influence of Te-cum-seh, he was again joined by many 
among the neighbouring tribes. The prophet's temporal concerns 
were conducted by Te-cum-seh, who adroitly availed himself of his 
brother's spiritual power to promote his favorite scheme of a general 
confederacy. 

In 1811, Te-cum-seh, accompanied by several hundred warriors, 
encamped near Vincennes, the capital of Indiana, and demanded 
an interview with the governor of the state, Major-General Harrison, 
the same officer who, in 1813, commanded the victorious troops at 
the battle of the Thames, in which Te-cum-seh lost his life. The 
interview was agreed to, and the governor enquired whether the 
Indians intended to come armed to the council. Te-cum-seh replied 
that he would be governed by the conduct of the white people ; if 
they came armed, his warriors would be armed also ; if not, his 
followers would come unarmed. The governor informed him that 
he would be attended by a troop of dragoons, dismounted, with their 
side arms only, and that the Indians might bring their war clubs 
and tomahawks. The meeting took place in a large arbour, on 
one side of which were the dragoons, eighty in number, seated in 
rows ; on the other the Indians. But besides their sabres, the 
dragoons were armed with pistols. The following incident is said 



APPENDIX F. 191 

to have occurred at this interview. Te-cum-seh looked round for 
a seat, but not finding one provided for him, he betrayed his sur- 
prise, and his eyes flashed fire. The governor, perceiving the cause, 
instantly ordered a chair. One of the council offered the warrior 
his chair, and, bowing respectfully, said to him : •■' Warrior, your 
father, General Harrison, offers you a seat." " My father ! " ex- 
claimed Te-cum-seh, extending his hand towards the Heavens, 
" the sun is my father, and the earth is my mother ; she gives me 
nourishment, and I will repose on her hosom." He then threw 
himself on the ground. When the governor, who was seated in 
front of the dragoons, commenced his address, Te-cum-seh de- 
clared that he could not hear him, and requested him to remove 
his seat to an open space near himself. The governor complied, 
and in his speech complained of the constant depredations and 
murders which were committed by the Indians of Tippecanoe ; of 
the refusal on their part to give up the criminals ; and of the 
increasing accumulation of force in that quarter, for the avowed 
purpose of compelling the United States to relinquish lands, which 
they had fairly purchased of the rightful owners. Te-cum-seh, 
in his answer, denied that he had afforded protection to the guilty, 
but manfully admitted his design of forming a confederacy of all 
the red nations of that continent. He observed, that " the system, 
which the United States pursued of purchasing lands from the 
Indians, he viewed as a mighty water, ready to overflow his people, 
and that the confederacy which he was forming among the tribes, 
to prevent any tribe from selling land without the consent of the 
others, was the dam he was erecting, to resist this mighty water." 
And he added, " your great father, the president, may sit over the 
mountains and drink his wine, but if he continue this policy, you 
and I will have to meet on the battle field." He also admitted, 
that he was then on his way to the Creek nation, for the purpose 
he had just avowed, and he continued his journey two days after, 
with twelve or fifteen of his warriors. Having visited the Creek 
and other southern tribes, he crossed the Mississippi, and continued 
a northern course as far as the river Demoins, whence he returned 
to the Wabash by land. But a sad reverse of fortune awaited his 
return ; he found his town consumed, his bravest warriors slain, 
and a large deposit of provisions destroyed. On his departure, 
the settlement at Tippecanoe was left in charge of his brother, the 
prophet, with strict injunctions to prevent all hostile incursions, as 
they might lead to extremities before his plans were matured. The 



192 TE-CUM-SEH. 

prophet, however, wanted either the inclination or the authority 
to follow these injunctions, and the Americans assert, that murder 
and rapine occurred now so frequently, that they were compelled 
in their own defence, to punish the delinquents. Accordingly, 
General Harrison proceeded with nearly a thousand men to Tippe- 
canoe, and on his approach, in November, 1811, was met by about 
six hundred warriors ; a battle ensued, in which the Indians, de- 
prived by the absence of their chief, of his counsel and example, 
were defeated, but with nearly equal loss on both sides. Assured 
by the prophet that the American bullets would not injure them, 
they rushed on the bayonets with their war clubs, and exposed 
their persons with a fatal fearlessness. But the prophet himself 
remained during the battle, in security on an adjacent eminence ; 
he was chaunting a war song, when information was brought to 
him that his men were falling. " Let them fight on, for my pre- 
diction will soon be verified," was the substance of his reply, and 
he resumed his song in a louder key ! ! 

The hostility of Te-cum-seh, to those whom he had ever con- 
sidered as the spoilers of his country, was, if possible, redoubled by 
this severe act of retaliation. General Harrison, in particular, 
incurred his personal enmity, and he declared openly that he would 
seek for vengeance. Nor was he backward in putting his threats 
into execution. Early in 1812, the Indians renewed their hostile 
incursions, but they were now treated with unusual forbearance, in 
the hope that they would remain neutral in the war with Great 
Britain, which the American government well knew was near at 
hand. On its declaration in June, however, Te-cum-seh eagerly 
embraced the opportunity which it afforded, not only to promote 
his long meditated public views, but to avenge his private injuries, 
and, hastening with his warriors to Upper Canada, he had soon 
the gratification of witnessing, at Detroit, the surrender of the 4th 
U. S. infantry, (or heroes of Tippecanoe, as they were then deno- 
minated,) which regiment claimed the principal merit. of having, 
the preceding year, defeated his followers and destroyed his settle- 
ment. In the contest which ensued, with varying fortune, for the 
preservation of Detroit and the western districts of Upper Canada, 
Te-cum-seh was of essential service, and he was constantly engaged 
with the enemy, in the neighbourhood, until the autumn of 1813, 
when the defeat of the British fleet on Lake Erie, gave the Ameri- 
cans an irresistible advantage. To prevent the communication with 
the army on the Niagara being intercepted by a very superior force 



APPENDIX F. 193 

under Major-General Harrison, the evacuation of Detroit, Amherst- 
burg, &c. became unavoidable. Te-cum-seli at first refused to 
consent to any retrogade movement, and taunted the British com- 
mander, Proctor, with promoting the destruction of the Indians ; 
but he was finally prevailed upon to accompany the troops with his 
warriors. They retreated along the banks of the river Thames, and 
were pursued and overtaken near the Moravian village, eighty miles 
from Sandwich, by Harrison, with about three thousand men. When 
compelled to give battle, on the 5th of October, Major-General 
Proctor could only muster about six hundred regulars, and rather 
more than the same number of Indians. The former were posted 
in single files in two lines, their left resting on the river, their right 
on a narrow swamp, beyond which were the Indians, reaching 
obliquely backwards to a second and much broader swamp, so that 
neither flank of the allies could be easily turned. The enemy 
commenced the attack with a regiment of mounted riflemen, the 
elite of their army, formed into two divisions of five hundred men 
each, one of which charged the regulars with great impetuosity, 
while the latter advanced with a company of foot against the 
Indians. The regulars, dissatisfied by fancied or real neglect, and 
dispirited by long continued exposure and privation, made but a 
very feeble resistance ; their ranks were pierced and broken, and 
being placed between two fires, they immediately surrendered, with 
the trifling loss of twelve killed and twenty-two wounded. But 
" the contest with the Indians on the left was more obstinate. 
They reserved their fire, till the heads of the columns, and the front 
line on foot, had approached within a few paces of their position. 
A very destructive fire was then commenced by them, about the 
time the firing ceased between the British and first battalion. 
Colonel Johnson finding his advanced guard, composing the head 
of his column, nearly all cut down by the first fire, and himself 
severely wounded, immediately ordered his columns to dismount 
and come up in line before the enemy, the ground which they occu- 
pied being unfavorable for operations on horseback. The line was 
promptly formed on foot, and a fierce conflict was then maintained, 
for seven or eight minutes, with considerable execution on both 
sides ; but the Indians had not sufficient firmness to sustain very 
long a fire which was close, and warm, and severely destructive. 
They gave way and fled through the brush into the outer swamp, 
not however before they had learnt the total discomfiture of their 
allies, and had lost by the fall of Te-cum-seh, a chief in whom 

N 



194 TE-CUM-SEH. 

were united the prowess of Achilles and authority of Agamemnon."* 
These gallant warriors did not, however, give way until Te-cum-seh 
was shot dead in the act of advancing to close with Colonel Johnson, 
who, although wounded, continued on horseback, animating his men, 
and they retired slowly, disputing the ground with much obstinacy 
for some distance. They left thirty-three slain on the field, besides 
many killed in the retreat. 

Te-cum-seh was slain in his forty-fourth year, and of the many 
Indian chiefs who distinguished themselves in the wars of the 
whites, he was undoubtedly the greatest since the days of Pontiac.f 
In early life he was addicted to inebriety, the prevailing vice of the 
Indians, but his good sense and resolution conquered the habit, 
and, in his later years, he was remarkable for temperance. Glory 
became his ruling passion, and in its acquisition he was careless of 
wealth, as, although his presents and booty must have been of con- 
siderable value, he preserved little or nothing for himself. In 
height he was five feet ten inches, well formed, and capable of 
enduring fatigue in an extraordinary degree. His carriage was 
erect and commanding, and there was an air of hauteur in his 
countenance, arising from an elevated pride of soul, which did not 
forsake it when life was extinct. He was habitually taciturn, but 
when excited, his eloquence was nervous, concise, and figurative, as 
will be seen by the subjoined specimens, suffering as they do under 
all the disadvantages of translation. His dress was plain, and he 
was never known to indulge in the gaudy decoration of his person, 
which is the common practice of the Indians. On the day of his 
death, he wore a dressed deer skin coat and pantaloons. He was 
present in almost every action against the Americans, from the 
period of Harmer's defeat, to the battle of the Thames, — was 
several times wounded, — and always sought the hottest of the fire. 
After the victory, his lifeless corpse was viewed with great interest 
by the American officers, who declared that the contour of his fea- 
tures was majestic even in death. And notwithstanding it is said 
by an American writer, that " some of the Kentuckians disgraced 
themselves by committing indignities on his dead body. He was 
scalped, and otherwise disfigured." 

* American History. 

t Mrs. Grant, in her " Memoirs of an American Lady," in the second 
volume, describes the deeds of Pondiac, as she spells his name, who, in 1764, 
waged war against the British in Canada, and nearly captured Detroit by 
surprise. Before the capture of Quebec, by Wolfe, in 1759, his alliance was 
anxiously courted both by the French and English. — Ed. 



APPENDIX F. 195 

Extract from " Hunter s Memoirs of a Captivity among the Indians 
of North America." — London, 1824. 

" In the following spring, a party of thirty hunters and six or 
seven squaws started on a visit to some of their connections, who 
remained at the Osage towns on the Grand Osage river,* taking 
me with them. Our course was up the Arkansas for a considerable 
distance ; thence across the highlands, till we struck the head 
waters of the Grand Osage river, which we descended, to the village 
belonging to Clermont, or the Builder of Towns, a celebrated 
Osage chief. We remained among the Grand Osages, till early in 
the next fall. During our stay, I saw a number of white people, 
who, from different motives, resorted to this nation : among them, 
was a clergyman, who preached several times to the Indians through 
an interpreter. He was the first Christian preacher that I had ever 
heard or seen. The Indians treated him with great respect, and 
listened to his discourses with profound attention ; but could not, 
as I heard them observe, comprehend the doctrines he wished to 
inculcate. It may be appropriately mentioned here, that the In ■ 
dians are accustomed, in their own debates, never to speak but one 
at a time ; while all others, constituting the audience, invariably 
listen with patience and attention till their turn to speak arrives. 
This respect is more particularly observed towards strangers ; and 
the slightest deviation from it would be regarded by them as rude, 
indecorous, and highly offensive. It is this trait in the Indian 
character which many of the missionaries mistake for a serious 
impression made on their minds • and which has led to many 
exaggerated accounts of their conversion to Christianity. 

" Some of the white people whom I met, as before noticed, 
among the Osages, were traders, and others were reputed to be 
runners from their Great Father beyond the great waters, to invite 
the Indians to take up the tomahawk against the settlers. They 
made many long talks, and distributed many valuable presents ; 
but without being able to shake the resolution which the Osages 
had formed, to preserve peace with their Great Father, the President. 
Their determinations were, however, to undergo a more severe 
trial : Te-cum-seh, the celebrated Shawanee warrior and chief, in 
company with Francis the prophet, now made his appearance 
among them. 

* "To understand this subject fully, it should be borne in mind that a part 
of the Osages, not long since, with the chiefs Big Track and AVhite Hair 
for their leaders, had separated from the Grand Osage nation, settled on the 
Arkansas river, and sustained their independence. 



196 TE-CUM-SEH. 

" He addressed tbem in long, eloquent, and pathetic strains ; 
and an assembly, more numerous than had ever been witnessed on 
any former occasion, listened to him with an intensely agitated, 
though profoundly respectful interest and attention. In fact, so 
great was the effect produced by Te-cum-seh's eloquence, that the 
chiefs adjourned the council, shortly after he had closed his ha- 
rangue ; nor did they finally come to a decision on the great 
question in debate for several days afterwards. 

" I wish it was in my power to do justice to the eloquence of 
this distinguished man : but it is utterly impossible. The richest 
colours, shaded with a master's pencil, would fall infinitely short of 
the glowing finish of the original. The occasion and subject were 
peculiarly adapted to call into action all the powers of genuine 
patriotism ; and such language, such gestures, and such feelings 
and fulness of soul contending for utterance, were exhibited by 
this untutored native of the forest in the central wilds of America, 
as no audience, I am persuaded, either in ancient or modern times, 
ever before witnessed. 

" My readers may think some qualification due to this opinion ; 
but none is necessary. The unlettered Te-cum-seh gave extempo- 
raneous utterance only to what he felt ; it was a simple, but vehe- 
ment narration of the wrongs imposed by the white people on the 
Indians, and an exhortation for the latter to resist them. The 
whole addressed to an audience composed of individuals who had 
been educated to prefer almost any sacrifice to that of j^ersonal 
liberty, and even death to the degradation of their nation ; and 
who, on this occasion, felt the portraiture of Te-cum-seh but too 
strikingly identified with their own condition, wrongs, and sufferings. 

" This discourse made an impression on my mind, which, I 
think, will last as long as I live. I cannot repeat it verbatim, 
though if I could, it would be a mere skeleton, without the rounding 
finish of its integuments : it would only be the shadow of the sub- 
stance ; because the gestures, and the interest and feelings excited 
by the occasion, and which constitute the essentials of its character, 
would be altogether wanting. Nevertheless, I shall, as far as my 
recollection serves, make the attempt, and trust to the indulgence 
of my readers for an apology for the presumptuous digression. 

" When the Osages and distinguished strangers had assembled, 
Te-cum-seh arose ; and after a pause of some minutes, in which 
he surveyed his audience in a very dignified, though respectfully 
complaisant and sympathizing manner, he commenced as follows : 



APPENDIX F. 197 

tf ' Brothers, — We all belong to one family ; we are all children 
of the Great Spirit ; we walk in the same path ; slake our thirst 
at the same spring ; and now affairs of the greatest concern lead 
us to smoke the pipe around the same council fire ! 

" ' Brothers, — We are friends ; we must assist each other to 
bear our burdens. The blood of many of our fathers and brothers 
has run like water on the ground, to satisfy the avarice of the white 
men. We, ourselves, are threatened with a great evil ; nothing 
will pacify them but the destruction of all the red men. 

" ' Brothers, — When the white men first set foot on our grounds, 
they were hungry ; they had no place on which to spread their 
blankets, or to kindle their fires. They were feeble ; they could 
do nothing for themselves. Our fathers commiserated their distress, 
and shared freely with them whatever the Great Spirit had given 
his red children. They gave them food when hungry, medicine 
when sick, spread skins for them to sleep on, and gave them grounds, 
that they might hunt and raise corn. — Brothers, the white people 
are like poisonous serpents : when chilled, they are feeble and 
harmless ; but invigorate them with warmth, and they sting their 
benefactors to death. 

" ' The white people came among us feeble ; and now that we 
have made them strong, they wish to kill us, or drive us back, as 
they would wolves and panthers. 

" ' Brothers, — The white men are not friends to the Indians : 
at first, they only asked for land sufficient for a wigwam ; now, 
nothing will satisfy them but the whole of our hunting grounds, 
from the rising to the setting sun. 

" ' Brothers, — The white men want more than our hunting 
grounds ; they wish to kill our old men, women, and little ones. 

" ' Brothers, — Many winters ago, there was no land ; the sun 
did not rise and set : all was darkness. The Great Spirit made all 
things. He gave the white people a home beyond the great waters. 
He supplied these grounds with game, and gave them to his red 
children ; and he gave them strength and courage to defend them. 

" ' Brothers, — My people wish for peace ; the red men all wish 
for peace : but where the white people are, there is no peace for 
them, except it be on the bosom of our mother. 

" ' Brothers, — The white men despise and cheat the Indians ; 
they abuse and insult them : they do not think the red men suffi- 
ciently good to live. 

<ff The red men have borne many and great injuries j they 



198 TE-CUM-SEH. 

ought to suffer them no longer. My people will not; they are 
determined on vengeance ; they have taken up the tomahawk • 
they will make it fat with blood ; they will drink the blood of the 
white people. 

" ' Brothers, — My people are brave and numerous ; but the 
white people are too strong for them alone. I wish you to take 
up the tomahawk with them. If we all unite, we will cause the 
rivers to stain the great waters with their blood. 

" 'Brothers, — If you do not unite with us, they will first destroy 
us, and then you will fall an easy prey to them. They have des- 
troyed many nations of red men because they were not united, 
because they were not friends to each other. 

" ' Brothers, — The white people send runners amongst us ; they 
wish to make us enemies, that they may sweep over and desolate 
our hunting grounds, like devastating winds, or rushing waters, 

" ' Brothers, — Our Great Father, over the great waters, is angry 
with the white people, our enemies. He will send his brave war- 
riors against them ; he will send us rifle9, and whatever else we 
want — he is our friend, and we are his children. 

" ' Brothers, — Who are the white people that we should fear 
them ? They cannot run fast, and are good marks to shoot at : 
they are only men ; our fathers have killed many of them : we 
are not squaws, and we will stain the earth red with their blood. 

" ' Brothers, — The Great Spirit is angry with our enemies ; he 
speaks in thunder, and the earth swallows up villages, and drinks 
up the Mississippi. The great waters will cover their lowlands ; 
their corn cannot grow ; and the Great Spirit will sweep those who 
escape to the hills from the earth with his terrible breath. 

" ' Brothers, — We must be united ; we must smoke the same 
pipe ; we must fight each other's battles ; and more than all, we 
must love the Great Spirit : he is for us ; he will destroy our ene- 
mies, and make all his red children happy.' 

" On the following day, Francis the prophet addressed the Osages 
in council ; and although he repeated almost precisely the language 
of Te-cum-seh, and enlarged considerably more on the power and 
disposition of the Great Spirit ; yet his discourse produced compa- 
ratively little effect on his audience. He was not a favourite 
among the Indians ; and I am of opinion, that he did more injury 
than benefit to the cause he undertook to espouse. 

" After they had concluded, I looked upon war as inevitable ; 
and its consequences contemplated the destruction of our enemies, 



APPENDIX F. 199 

and the restoration of the Indians to their primitive rights, power, 
and happiness. There was nothing I then so ardently desired as 
that of being a warrior, and I even envied those, who were to achieve 
these important objects, the fame and glory that would redound as 
a necessary result. In a short time afterwards, however, the Osages 
rejected Te-cum-seh's proposals, and all these brilliant prospects 
vanished . ' ' 

Speech of Te-cum-seh, delivered on the 18th Sep>tember, 1813, before 
the British Council of War, at Anther stbur g , Upper Canada. 

" Father, listen to your children ! You have them now all 
before you. 

"The war before this, our British father gave the hatchet to his 
red children, when our old chiefs were alive. They are now dead. 
In that war our father was thrown on his back by the Americans, 
and our father took them by the hand without our knowledge ; and 
we are afraid that our father will do so again at this time. 

"The summer before last, when I came forward with my red 
brethren, and was ready to take up the hatchet in favor of our 
British father, we were told not to be in a hurry, — that he had not 
yet determined to fight the Americans. 

" Listen ! When war was declared, our father stood up and gave 
us the tomahawk, and told us that he was then ready to strike the 
Americans ; that he wanted our assistance ; and that he would 
certainly get us our lands back, which the Americans had taken 
from us. 

" Listen ! You told us, at that time, to bring forward our families 
to this place, and we did so ; and you promised to take care of 
them, and that they should want for nothing, while the men would 
go and fight the enemy ; that we need not trouble ourselves about 
the enemy's garrisons j that we knew nothing about them, and that 
our father would attend to that part of the business. You also 
told your red children that you would take good care of your gar- 
rison here, which made our hearts glad. 

" Listen ! When we were last at the Rapids, it is true we gave 
you little assistance. It is hard to fight people who live like ground 
hogs. 

Father, listen ! Our fleet has gone out ; we know they have 
fought j we have heard the great guns ; but we know nothing of 
what has happened to our father with that arm. Our ships have 
gone one way, and we are much astonished to see our father tying 



200 TE-CUM-SEH. 

up every thing and preparing to run away the other, without letting 
his red children know what his intentions are. You always told 
us to remain here and take care of our lands ; it made our hearts 
glad to hear that was your wish. Our great father, the king, is the 
head, and you represent him. You always told us that you would 
never draw your foot off British ground ; but now, father, we see 
you are drawing back, and we are sorry to see our father doing so 
without seeing the enemy. We must compare our father's conduct 
to a fat dog, that carries its tail upon its back, but when affrighted, 
it drops it between its legs and runs off. 

" Father, listen ! The Americans have not yet defeated us by 
land ; neither are we sure that they have done so by water : ive 
therefore tvish to remain here and fight our enemy, should they make 
their appearance. If they defeat us, we will then retreat with our 
father. 

" At the battle of the Rapids, last war, the Americans certainly 
defeated us ; and, when we retreated to our father's fort at that 
place, the gates were shut against us. We were afraid that it would 
now be the case ; but instead of that, we now see our British father 
preparing to march out of his garrison. 

" Father ! You have got the arms and ammunition which our 
great father sent for his red children. If you have an idea of going 
away, give them to us, and you may go, and welcome for us. Our 
lives are in the hands of the Great Spirit. We are determined to 
defend our lands, and if it be His will, we wish to leave our bones 
upon them." 

Extract from Lieutenant Hall's Travels. — Vide ante, page 144. 

Having described the Six Nations, or Indians of the Grand River, 
the author thus continues : — 

" The whole of the settlements are reckoned to furnish about 
five hundred warriors to our government. These, if not the best, 
are certainly the dearest of our allies : besides the support of them- 
selves and their families during war, several thousands are expended 
annually in clothing and nicknacks, under the name of presents. 
Every accidental loss, from failure of crops, or other disasters, they 
are in the habit of expecting should be made good by the liberality 
of their " Great Father,' whose means and generosity they are well 
disposed to consider as unbounded ; an idea which his agents are 
little careful to repress. During the late war they behaved with 
the cautious courage of German auxiliaries, evidently considering 



APPENDIX F. 201 

it their first interest to spare themselves, their second, to serve their 
father ; a mode of conduct which was nearly resented by the more 
enterprising warriors of the west, who had taken up the hatchet 
from a strong feeling of necessity, and hatred to the encroachments 
of the Americans. Among these, the most distinguished was 
Te-cum-seh, a Shawanee chieftain, whose courage and commanding 
talents recommended him, early in the war, not only to the notice, 
but to the personal esteem, and admiration of Sir Isaac Brock.* 
Te-cum-seh perceived the necessity of a general Indian confederacy, 
as the only permanent barrier to the dominion of the States. 
What he had the genius to conceive, he had the talents to execute : 
eloquence and address, courage, penetration, and what in an Indian 
is more remarkable than these, undeviating temperance. Under 
better auspices, this Amphictyonic league might have been effected ; 
but after the death of his friend and patron, he found no kindred 
spirit with whom to act ; but stung with grief and indignation, 
after upbraiding, in the bitterest sarcasms,t the retreat of our forces, 
he engaged an American detachment of mounted riflemen, near the 
Moravian village, and having rushed forward, singly, to encounter 
their commanding officer, whom he mistook for General Harrison, 
he fell by a pistol ball. The exultations of the Americans on his 
death, afford unerring, because unintended, evidence of the dread 
his talents had inspired. J 

* " The general, one day, presented him with the sash he had worn on his 
own person. Te-cum-seh received it with great emotion, and begged the 
general to consider, that if he refrained from wearing it himself, it was from 
an anxiety to prevent the jealousy, which such an honour conferred on a 
young chieftain might excite, among the older Indian captains; but that he 
would send it to his family, to be preserved as an eternal memorial of his 
father's friendship." 

t " ' I compare,' said he, speaking of the author of this retreat, ' our father 
to a fat white dog, who, in the season of prosperity carries his tail erect on 
his back, but drops it betwixt its legs and flies at the approach of dauber.' 
On another occasion, when by way of pacifying his remonstrances with a 
metaphor, in the Indian manner, our commander professed his readiness to 
lay his bones by his side, ' Tell the dog,' said the angry warrior, ' he has too 
much regard for his carcass to lay his bones any where.' 

X " The officer who shot him was a Colonel Johnson, who had been himself 
severely wounded the moment before. Te-cum-seh bore a personal enmity to 
General Harrison, to whom he attributed the slaughter of his family ; and 
had vowed that when they met, one of them should be left on the field. 



202 TE-CUM-SEH. 

"TO THE. MEMORY OF TE-CUM-SEH. 

" Te-cum-seh has no grave, but eagles dipt 

Their rav'ning beaks, and drank his stout heart's tide, 
Leaving his bones to whiten where he died : 

His skin by Christian tomahawks was stript 
From the bard fibres.* — Impotence of pride ! 

Triumphant o'er the earth-worm, but in vain 
Deeming th' impassive spirit to deride, 

Which, nothing or immortal, knows no pain ! 

Might ye torment him to this earth again, 
That were an agony : his children's blood 
Delug'd his soul, and like a fiery flood, 

Scorch' d up his core of being. Then the stain 

Of flight was on him, and the wringing thought, 
He should no more the crimson hatchet raise 
Nor drink from kindred lips his song of praise ; 

So liberty, he deemed, with life was cheaply bought." 



Extracts from "James Military Occurrences." 

" The American general, in expectation that one hundred and 
fifty Ohio volunteers, under the command of Captain Brush, were 
waiting at the river Raisoin, thirty-six miles oft", with a quantity of 
provisions for the army, despatched Major Vanhorne, with two 
hundred men, to meet and escort the reinforcement to its destina- 
tion. Fortunately, the major encountered, on his second day's 
march, near Brownstown, seventy Indians, under the brave Te- 
cum-seh, in ambuscade. The latter fired, and, according to the 
American accounts, killed twenty men, including Captains M'Cul- 
loch, Bostler, Gilcrease, and Ubry ; and wounded nine. Te-cum-seh 
and his seventy Indians, with the loss of only one man killed, drove 
these two hundred Americans before them, for seven miles, and 
took possession of the mail they were escorting. — Vol. I. p. 61. 

" We must not omit here to mention, that the famed Indian 
warrior, Te-cum-seh, buried his tomahawk in the head of a 
Chippeway chief, whom he found actively engaged in massacring 
some of Colonel Dudley's men. f — Ibid. p. 201. 

* " The riflemen are said to have cut off strips of his skin to preserve 
as trophies." 

t American troops who had been taken prisoners near Fort Meigs, in May, 
1813.— Ed. 



APPENDIX F. 203 

" The Indian warriors, led by the undaunted Te-cum-seh, rushed 
upon the enemy's front line of infantry, and ' for a moment/ says 
the general, (Harrison,) ' made some impression upon it.' It was 
not, in short, till the infantry was reinforced by the whole of Go- 
vernor Shelby's, and a part of Colonel Johnson's regiment ; nor, till 
the fall of their lamented chief, and upwards of thirty of their war- 
riors, that the brave foresters retired from the field of battle. Had 
the men of the 41st regiment at all emulated the Indians, the fate 
of the clay might have been changed ; or, did the enemy's great 
numerical superiority render that an improbable event, the Ame- 
rican general would not, in the very paragraph in which he admits 
that he contended with an inferiority of force, have dared to claim 
for his troops ' the palm of superior bravery.' — Ibid. p. 282. 

" Let us now ascend in the scale of human beings, from a 
' member of congress ' to a ' savage,' — from Mr. Cheeves to the 
late Indian warrior, Te-cum-seh. It seems extraordinary that 
General Harrison should have omitted to mention, in his letter, 
the death of a chief, whose fall contributed so largely to break 
down the Indian spirit, and to give peace and security to the 
whole north-western frontier of the United States. Te-cum-seh, 
although he had received a musket- ball in the left arm, was still 
seeking the hottest of fire, when he encountered Colonel R. M. 
Johnson, member of congress for Kentucky. Just as the chief, 
having discharged his rifle, was rushing forward with his tomahawk, 
he received a ball in the head from the colonel's pistol. Thus fell 
the Indian warrior Te-cum-seh, in the forty-fourth year of his age. 
He was of the Shawanee tribe ; five feet ten inches high ; and, with 
more than the usual stoutness, possessed all the agility and perse- 
verance, of the Indian character. His carriage was dignified ; his 
eye penetrating ; his countenance which, even in death, betrayed 
the indications of a lofty spirit, rather of the sterner cast. Had he 
not possessed a certain austerity of manners, he could never have 
controlled the wayward passions of those who followed him to bat- 
tle. He was of a silent habit ; but, when his eloquence became 
roused into action by the reiterated encroachments of the Ameri- 
cans, his strong intellect could supply him with a flow of oratory, 
that enabled him, as he governed in the field, so to prescribe in the 
council. Those who consider that, in all territorial questions, the 
ablest diplomatists of the United States are sent to negotiate with 
the Indians, will readily appreciate the loss sustained by the latter 
in the death of their champion. — Ibid. pp. 287, 288. 



204 TE-CUM-SEH. 

" 'By whom are the savages led ? ' was the question, for many 
years, during the wars between the Americans and Indians. The 
name ' Te-cum-seh ! ' was itself a host on the side of the latter ; 
and the warrior chief, while he signalized himself in all, came oif 
victorious in most, of the many actions in which he had fought 
and bled. The American editors, superadded to a national dislike to 
the Indians, have some special reasons, which we shall develope 
presently, for blackening the character of Te-cum-seh. They say, 
that he neither gave nor accepted quarter. His inveterate hatred 
to the Americans, considering them, as he did, to have robbed his 
forefathers of their territory, -renders such a proceeding, in a 
savage, not improbable. European history, even of modern date, 
informs us, that the civilized soldier can go into battle with a 
similar determination. Mr. Thomson says of Te-cum-seh, that, 
' when he undertook an expedition, accompanied by his tribe, he 
would relinquish to them the spoil, though he would never yield 
the privilege of destroying the victim.' And yet, it was from an 
American publication that we extracted the account of Te-cum-seh's 
killing a brother-chief, because the latter wanted to massacre an 
American prisoner. This trait in Te-cum-seh's character is corro- 
borated by all the British officers who have served with him. That 
it did not, however, proceed from any good-will towards the Ame- 
ricans, was made known, in an extraordinary manner, at the taking 
of Detroit. After the surrender of the American troops, General 
Brock desired Te-cum-seh not to allow the Indians under him to 
ill-treat the prisoners. Te-cum-seh promptly replied : ' I despise 
them too much to meddle with them.' Nor is there a single act of 
violence charged to the Indians on that occasion. As a proper 
contrast to this, an American editor, describing a battle between 
General Jackson and the Creek Indians, in March, 1814, says: 
' Of about one thousand Creeks, only ten of the men are supposed 
to have escaped with life : sixteen of the Creeks, who had hid 
themselves, were killed the morning after the battle. The American 
commander said, in his despatch, that he was determined to extermi- 
nate the tribe ; of course,' proceeds the editor, ' no quarter was 
given, except to a few women and children.' 

" Few officers in the United States' service were so able to com- 
mand in the field, as this famed Indian chief. He was an excel- 
lent judge of position ; and not only knew, but could point out, 
the localities of the whole country through which he had passed. 
To what extent he had travelled over the western part of the 



APPENDIX F. 205 

American continent, may be conceived from the well-known fact, 
that he visited the Creek Indians, in the hopes of prevailing on 
them to unite with their northern brethren, in efforts to regain 
their country as far as the banks of the Ohio. His facility of 
communicating the information he had acquired, was thus displayed 
before a concourse of spectators. Previously to General Brock's 
crossing over to Detroit, he asked Te-cum-seh what sort of a 
country he should have to pass through, in case of his proceeding 
further. Te-cum-seh, taking a roll of elm- bark, and extending it 
on the ground by means of four stones, drew forth his scalping 
knife, and, with the point, presently etched upon the bark a plan 
of the country, its hills, woods, rivers, morasses, and roads ; a 
plan which, if not as neat, was, for the purpose required, fully as 
intelligible, as if Arrowsmith himself had prepared it. Pleased 
with this unexpected talent in Te-cum-seh, also with his having, 
by his characteristic boldness, induced the Indians, not of his 
immediate party, to cross the Detroit, prior to the embarkation of 
the regulars and militia, General Brock, as soon as the business was 
over, publicly took off his sash, and placed it round the body of the 
chief. Te-cum-seh received the honor with evident gratification ; but 
was, the next day, seen without his sash. General Brock, fearing 
something had displeased the Indian, sent his interpreter for an 
explanation. The latter soon returned with an account, that 
Te-cum-seh, not wishing to wear such a mark of distinction, when 
an older, and, as he said, abler, warrior than himself was present, 
had transferred the sash to the Wyandot chief, Round-head. Such 
a man was the unlettered 'savage' Te-cum-seh ; and such a man 
have the Indians for ever lost. He has left a son, who, when his 
father fell, was about seventeen years old, and fought by his side. 
The Prince Regent, in 1814, out of respect to the memory of the 
old, sent out as a present to the young Te-cum-seh, a handsome 
sword. Unfortunately, however, for the Indian cause and country, 
faint are the prospects, that Te-cum-seh the son, will ever equal, 
in wisdom or prowess, Te-cum-seh the father." — Ibid. pp. 289-293. 



Extracts from " The Quarterly Bevieiv." — July, 1822. 

"Among the Indians that joined General Proctor from the Wa- 
bash, was the higly gifted and celebrated chief, Te-cum-seh, who 
united in his person all those heroic qualities which romance has 
ever delighted to attribute to the 'children of the forest,' and, with 



206 TE-CUM-SEH. 

them, intelligence and feelings that belonged not to the savage. 
He possessed such influence among his brethren that his presence 
was an acquisition of the utmost importance. — Page 422. 

" The situation of General Proctor's little army after this disaster* 
is well depicted by Mr. James : — 

" 'This was a sad blow upon the right division. As hope fled, 
despair found its way into the British camp. The situation of the 
men, it must be owned, was deplorable in the extreme. They had 
long been suffering, not only from a scarcity of provisions, but a 
scarcity of money. Few of them had received any pay for the last 
six months : to some indeed nine months' arrears were due. Winter, 
a Canadian winter, was fast approaching ; and scarcely any of the 
soldiers had blankets, and all were without great coats. The severe 
privations which they had endured in the last, were therefore likely 
to be augmented rather than diminished, in the succeeding winter. 
In addition to all this, the commander of the forces appeared un- 
mindful of their arduous exertions.' 

" Under such circumstances was the retreat to commence, which 
had become inevitable to prevent the enemy from landing in rear 
of the troops. The reinforcements, which might as easily have 
been sent up when their arrival would have destroyed the enemy, 
were now afforded only to increase the want of provisions. But, if 
the maintenance of our positions on the Detroit was impossible, 
the attempt to retreat from them was big with danger, for it was 
foreseen, that to induce the Indians to retire with them, and quit 
their old haunts, would be attended with much difficulty. The 
warriors received the proposal with the utmost indignation, and 
considered the measure as a desertion of them. The British com- 
mander was thus placed, with the few troops which composed his 
force, in a most critical situation ; for there was every reason to 
expect that the numerous Indians would not restrain their irritated 
feelings to a mere dissolution of the alliance. But a successful en- 
deavour was made to convince Te-cum-seh, who had at first 
violently opposed the measure, of its unavoidable necessity ; and 
his influence was sufficient to induce a large proportion of his 
nation to accompany the British troops in their retrograde move- 
ment. 

" This important object being gained, the requisite preparations 
for a retreat were immediately completed. The forts of Amherst- 
burgh and Detroit were dismantled, depots were formed on the pro- 

* The defeat of the British squadron on Lake Erie. — Ed. 



APPENDIX F. 207 

posed line of movement up the river Thames, which falls into Lake 
St. Clair, above the Detroit, and the bridges over that river were 
carefully repaired j the heavy stores, the sick, women and children, 
were sent to the rear by the water carriage. On the 2/th of Sep- 
tember, General Harrison landed below Amherstburgh, with his 
army of between five and six thousand men, and, on the same day, 
General Proctor broke up from his position and slowly retired to 
an advantageous spot, near the mouth of the Thames, where he had 
determined to make a temporary stand. But while the general, on 
finding that the enemy did not advance, had left the troops in posi- 
tion, to examine with his principal engineer the heights near the 
Moravian village, at some distance in the rear, which he intended 
to fortify and occupy during the winter, the officer next in command 
withdrew the troops from their strong post without orders, even 
before the appearance of the Americans j and thus caused the loss 
of the boats, containing the remnant of the stores and artillery with 
a guard, which could not ascend higher up the river from the nature 
of the navigation. The general, on hastily rejoining his troops, 
found that this unauthorized measure had left him no alternative 
but a battle. The Indians had, on the continued retreat of the 
British, forsaken them in great numbers, and of above three thou- 
sand, no more than five hundred warriors remained with the brave 
and faithful Te-cum-seh. The position chosen to await the attack 
of the American army was covered on either flank by the river 
Thames and an impassable swamp, and was calculated to render 
their immense superiority of numbers in a great degree unavailing. 
Here, on the morning of the 5th of October, the regular force 
(about five hundred effectives) were drawn up in open files in a 
straggling wood, which prevented any attack upon them in regular 
order ; their left secured by the river, a gun flanking the road, and 
their right extending towards the Indians, who were posted where 
the wood thickened, so as to form a retiring angle with them, and 
to turn the enemy's flank on their advance. This disposition was 
shown to Te-cum-seh, who expressed his satisfaction at it ; and his 
last words to the general were : ' Father, tell your young men to be 
firm, and all will be well : ' he then repaired to his people and 
harangued them before they were formed in their places. The 
small band of our regulars, discouraged by their retreat and by the 
privations to which they had been long exposed, gave way on the 
first advance of the enemy, and no exertion of their commander 
could rally them. While they were thus quickly routed, Te-cum- 



208 TE-CUM-SEH. 

seh and his warriors had almost as rapidly repulsed the enemy, and 
the Indians continued to push their advantage, in ignorance of the 
disaster of their allies, until their heroic chief fell by a rifle ball, 
and with him the spirit of his followers, who were put to flight and 
pursued with unrelenting slaughter. The Americans showed their 
respect for Te-cum-seh in full as barbarous a manner as a hostile 
tribe of his own nation could have done under the same circum- 
stances. The skin was flayed from his lifeless corpse and made 
into razor strops, one of which the late Mr. Clay, of Virginia, a 
member of the American legislature, prided himself in possessing. — 
Pages 430-432. 



SUPPLEMENT. 



The Le Mesuriers, (late governors,) of Aldemey, and the elder branch of 
the Tuppers, of Guernsey, having been twice connected by marriage during 
the last century; John Tupper marrying Margaret Le Mesurier, 1730-31, 
and William Le Mesurier, son of the Dean of Guernsey, marrying Jane 
Tupper, 1781 ; and Colonel Tupper and his brothers being in consequence 
related to Colonel Le Mesurier ; it may not be deemed irrelevant to include 
in these " Records" a life of that gallant and lamented officer, particularly 
as it will add to their local interest. Colonels Le Mesurier and Tupper fell 
nearly at the same age, and both in command of foreign troops, although 
the former was a lieutenant-colonel in the British service. The following 
Memoir is extracted, with some slight revision, from the Sarnian Monthly 
Magaz ; ne for July, 1815, a work of which only three numbers were pub- 
lished, and which is now nearly out of print. — Ed. 



MEMOIR 

OF 

THE LATE 

COLONEL HAVILLAND LE MESURIER. 



Colonel Havilland Le Mesurier was of a family which had 
been settled in the island of Guernsey from a very early period ; as 
far back indeed as any authentic records can be traced. The 
branch to which he belonged has now (1815) for more than a century 
enjoyed the government and lordship of the neighbouring island of 
Alderney, which came to them by intermarriage with a niece of Sir 
Edmund Andros, to whom a grant of the island for a term of 
ninety-nine years had been made by Charles the Second. John Le 
Mesurier, son of John, the husband of Anne Andros, in the early 
part of his present Majesty's reign, having surrendered the existing 
patent, obtained a new grant for ninety-nine years, which is now 
possessed by another John, his grandson and heir.* Havilland Le 
Mesurier,f the father of the colonel, was a younger son of that 
John, by whom the patent was renewed, and is well known by the 
ability and integrity with which he discharged the office of commis- 
sary-general in the north of Germany, in the years 1795 and 1 796 ; 
and, afterwards, in the year 1798, in the southern department of 
England ; and, lastly, in the years 1801 and 1802, in Egypt and 
the Mediterranean. 

The subject of this article was educated at Salisbury and Win- 
chester, and, being destined for commercial pursuits, was sent to 
Berlin to acquire the German language. Here, however, the sight 
of the grand reviews, and all the military pomp which was kept up 
at that court, had such an effect upon the young man that he wrote 
to his father, earnestly entreating to be allowed to enter into the 
army j for which he said he had always felt the strongest predilec- 

* The present Major-General Le Mesurier, who disposed of his patent to 
government in 1824 or 25. — Ed. 
t Brother of the late Paul Le Mesurier, Esq. M. P.— Ed. 



212 COLONEL LE MESUK1ER. 

tion, but bad cbecked himself, in deference to what he knew had 
been planned out for him. There were circumstances which so 
decidedly proved the truth of this statement, that his parents, 
though with the greatest reluctance, acceded to his wishes ; the 
more readily, however, from the confidence which his father enter- 
tained, that the claims which he had established, in the course of 
his service, would enable him to procure advancement for his son : 
nor was he disappointed, for in January, 1801, an ensign's commis- 
sion in the staff corps was obtained for him. This, however, as 
soon as the destination of Sir Ralph Abercrombie's expedition was 
ascertained, he quitted for a lieutenancy, by purchase, in the 
20th regiment of foot ; and he lost no time in embarking in a mer- 
chant ship, in the hope of immediately seeing active service in the 
face of an enemy, in which however he did not succeed on account 
of the general peace in that year. 

The company to which Lieutenant Le Mesurier belonged, having 
been recruited from the militia, was reduced at the peace, but his 
royal highness the commander in chief immediately transferred him 
to the 83d regiment on full pay, in which he served till August, 
1803, when he was admitted into the college at High -Wycomb, 
where he soon distinguished himself by his application and talents. 
In consequence, he, together with Mr. (afterwards captain) Brad- 
ford, a fellow collegian and friend, obtained leave to travel, for the 
purpose of perfecting himself in the German language, and getting 
an insight into foreign tactics. They were advised to fix at Kiel, 
in Holstein, where they remained during the winter. 

In the summer following he passed his final examination at High- 
Wycomb, with the greatest credit, being highly complimented by 
the Board, and further told that they "should press on the consi- 
deration of the Supreme Board his perfect competency to the 
discharge of the duties of assistant quartermaster general." 
Having, in the month of September, obtained a captain's commis- 
sion in the 21st regiment, he soon after joined his corps, then in 
Ireland, where he remained until the month of March following ; 
when, being summoned to London, on account of the sudden and 
much lamented death of his father, General Brownrigg, in pursuance 
of a promise made to the deceased, gave him an appointment as 
assistant quartermaster general : and he served on the coasts of 
Kent and Sussex, making surveys and discharging the other duties 
of that office, until the end of the year 1807 ; when, it being stated 
that the regiment wanted officers, he was ordered to join, carrying 



COLONEL LE MESURIER. 213 

with him, however, the most perfect approbation of his services 
from the quartermaster general. Here he remained only a short 
time, having, through the interest of Sir James Saumarez, with the 
adjutant general, been appointed on the staff of that department in 
the expedition which sailed under Sir John Moore, for Sweden. 
With it he returned, and proceeded to Portugal in the same capacity. 
And here, on his first approaching the coast of the Peninsula, 
he received the unwelcome news of the death of his friend, 
Captain Bradford. Of this he spoke as a soldier should do : "1 
am," he writes, " much less affected by his loss than if it had taken 
place under other circumstances. If it be God's pleasure that I fall 
in the course of my present service, I could certainly wish to meet 
my fate at the close of some great day, which should stamp lasting 
glory on the British arms. But I have gayer hopes, and look for- 
ward to a happy reunion with the dear friends I have left behind." 
He did indeed once again meet those friends, — but it was only to 
return to a service where he met that fate which he had thus 
mai-ked out for himself ! During the campaign he neglected no 
means to acquire both the Portuguese and Spanish languages, in 
which he finally succeeded ; but he mentioned, as a proof, (among 
others) of the bigotry of the Spaniards, and their aversion to the 
heretics, who were fighting their battles, that when in Salamanca, 
an university where there must have been many poor scholars, 
he could not procure one to give him lessons on any terms. 
At the battle of Lugo he had some very narrow escapes, and at 
Corunna had his horse shot under him. Upon his return to Eng- 
land with the troops, he made some efforts to purchase a majority, 
but was diverted from this by the prospect of procuring a nomina- 
tion among the officers who were to be sent out with General 
Beresford to discipline the Portuguese troops. This appointment, 
however, only followed him to the Peninsula, for which he em- 
barked in the middle of April, 1809, still as captain on the staff in 
the quartermaster-general's department. His majority was dated 
April 20th ; and it carried with it the further step of a lieutenant- 
colonelcy in the Portuguese service. 

Having thus attained that first great step, to which every military 
man looks up, as materially altering his situation, he could now 
indulge the hope, that in the command of a corps he should soon 
secure to himself that distinction which is desired by all, and by 
none, perhaps, more than it was by him. Nor was it long before 
that hope was realized. At first, indeed, he had considerable dilfi- 



214 COLONEL LL MESURIER. 

culties, and much that was unpleasant, to encounter. He was 
attached to the 14th Portuguese regiment as a supernumerary, and 
thus was little better than a cypher. They were left, alter the 
French had retreated, at Chaves, in most miserable quarters. In 
this town, " not a fowl, or an ounce of flesh meat, except pork, 
not a grain of tea, coffee, or chocolate, was to be had at any rate ; 
and even bacon, salt fish, and vegetables, were at such a price, that 
few officers could purchase them :" even fruit (this was on the 29th 
of May) could hardly be procured. He had no Englishman within 
fifty miles, except his servant and two or three sick soldiers ; so 
that his intercourse was only with the officers of his regiment, who 
were naturally jealous of him. In this interval, it being thought of 
importance to ascertain the position and motions of the French, he 
offered himself to General Silveira, and was sent by him into Gal- 
licia on a mission to the Marquis de la Romana, who received him 
with great distinction, and proposed, through him, a plan of attack 
on the enemy, by the joint forces of the Spaniards and Portuguese. 
This, however, could not be carried into execution, as Silveira had 
the most positive orders not to pass the frontier. Having now 
been promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy of the regiment, and the 
colonel (who was old and inefficient) being called away on the 23d 
of July, so that he was left commanding officer ; he set about the 
disciplining of the corps in good earnest. It was in a wretched 
state in every respect ; the officers old and stiff, and stupid for the 
most part ; and of the men from two hundred to four hundred on 
the sick list. The general hospital was in such a dreadful state, 
that the men concealed their complaints, that they might not be 
sent there. With great difficulty he established a regimental hospi- 
tal ; and, with the help of a very intelligent adjutant, who, he said, 
had more of the Englishman in him than any Portuguese he ever 
met with, he soon made considerable progress ; so much so, that, 
when inspected by Major-General Hamilton on the 21st October, 
at Torres Novas, and by Marshal Beresford on the 23d of Decem- 
ber, he received the most flattering marks of approbation ; the 
marshal assuring him that the brigade (for the 13th regiment had 
also been put under his command) was in no respect inferior to any 
that he had seen, and directed him to issue a brigade order to that 
effect. lie was further charged with making the promotion for 
both regiments, which sufficiently shewed the very great confidence 
reposed in him by the marshal : it extended to one lieutenant- 
colonel, two majors, eleven captains, and sixteen ensigns, — an 



COLONEL LE MESURIER, 215 

extent of patronage at which he himself seemed astonished, particu- 
larly as he had before been allowed to name one major, four 
captains, four lieutenants, and one ensign, in his own regiment. 
Indeed, his merit cannot be sufficiently estimated without adding 
the circumstance that he alone, of all the commanders of Portu- 
guese corps, had not, up to that time, had the assistance of any 
one (even non-commissioned) British officer. In the 13th regi- 
ment there was only one captain, by whom indeed he was perfectly 
well seconded. In fact, he had very early, or rather from the very 
beginning, discovered the good qualities of the Portuguese, and 
declared his persuasion that they would make, as they have turned 
out to be, excellent soldiers. Ke had by this time gained the confi- 
dence and affection of both officers and men, and went on improving 
them, until, in the judgment of the general officers who reviewed 
them, they were become equal in appearance to most British regi- 
ments. 

Towards the end of April, 181 1, he was recommended by Marshal 
Beresford to be Portuguese Military Secretary to Lord Wellington, 
and arrived at head quarters the day before the battle of Fuente 
d'Onore. Here he found himself, suddenly, in the charge made by 
General Stewart with the 14th dragoons ; and afterwards perceiving 
the 7th Portuguese regiment, which had been ordered to cover 
General Houston's retreat, without a field officer, he dismounted, 
and took the command of the left wing ; and, having taken post in 
a rocky ground, maintained himself as long as was necessary, losing 
eight or ten out of eighty men, and having his arm grazed by a 
musket ball. Some time after this, being rather disappointed as to 
the nature of the situation in which he was placed, he solicited, 
and, after some delay obtained, leave to return to his regiment, 
which he did towards the end of June. He found it a prey to 
internal animosities and dissensions, owing to his successors having 
been transported into some acts of violence by the ill conduct of 
certain of the Portuguese officers, which had set them and the 
British at variance. By Colonel Le Mesurier, however, harmony 
and order were quickly restored, and all parties reconciled. He 
had felt some apprehension lest his quitting Lord Wellington should 
have operated unfavourably for him in respect to his promotion in 
our service ; but he was relieved from it by his commission of 
British lieut. -colonel coming out on the 3d of October. This was 
followed by his being selected, in the middle of March following, to 
command the fortress of Almeida, at a time when Marmonts move- 



216 COLONEL LE MESURIER. 

ments in the north excited considerable alarm for the safety of that 
place. On this occasion he received the most flattering compli- 
ments from Lord Wellington, as well as from Sir Thomas Graham 
and Sir Rowland Hill ; and his Lordship further promised to re- 
commend for an ensigncy a younger brother of his, who had lately 
come out as clerk in the commissariat, having been prevailed upon 
by him to relinquish that employment and embrace the more active 
duties of a military life. No time was lost, immediately on his arrival, 
in repairing the fortifications, and disciplining the garrison, which 
consisted of new-raised militia. But, so completely had the place 
been dismantled, and so insufficient was this handful of raw troops 
for any serious defence, that, upon Marmont's appearing before it, 
every one gave it up as lost. He, however, shewed such a counte- 
nance, having prevailed upon his men to accompany him in two 
sallies, and skirmish with some of the more advanced troops, that 
the enemy gave him credit for being stronger than he was, and 
desisted from any attempt vipon the place. The manner in which 
he proceeded from that time in repairing the fortifications, disci- 
plining the garrison, and discharging all his other duties, drew 
repeated commendations from Lord Wellington and Sir William 
Beresford. He was equally beloved by the inhabitants of Almeida 
and by the troops. But all this did not satisfy him : he was impa- 
tient under this state of comparative inaction, and anxiously longed 
to share " the clangers, the toils, and the honors of his companions " 
in the field. In an evil hour, as his friends must consider it, his 
repeated solicitations to return to regimental duty prevailed ; and 
he was appointed on the 18th of May to the command of the 12th 
Portuguese regiment, which he joined soon after : and which he 
found even superior to his own beloved 14th. By them indeed he 
was still beloved, for it happened, that in their line of march, the 
two corps met ; and as he passed the column on horseback, the 
cheering was universal, and seemed, as he said, " really enthusi- 
astic." He wrote of it with great feeling. Indeed he had laboured 
hard to resume his situation in that corps, of which he always spoke 
with great affection. Some time after he joined the main army in 
the Pyrenees, where he was destined to meet that death which he 
appeared so bent to encounter. Only a few clays before the battle, 
he obtained that step in the Portuguese service, which he had for 
some time expected, being made full colonel ; but, whether of the 1 2th 
or the 1 4th, he had not ascertained. He observed, that " between 
the two his expectations were balanced ; and not onlv his expecta- 

■B RD-94 i 



COLONEL LE MESURIER. 217 

tions, but his hopes; for, indeed, the 12th had taught him that 
there might be even better soldiers than his favourite Algarvians. — 
In the world/' he added, " there are not such soldiers as the Portu- 
guese : an opinion which is every day gaining proselytes." This 
letter, however, dated on the 25th of July, bore evident marks of a 
depression of spirits. He had lately been treated somewhat harshly in 
a discussion, in which he had laboured to obtain justice for his men, 
who had not been duly served with their rations ; and he had just 
received the account of a failure in his endeavours to obtain some 
advantage for that brother whom he had induced to enter the army, 
and who had lost his right arm by a cannon shot at the battle of 
Salamanca. He showed himself greatly hurt at this, and concluded 
with saying, " Some persons suppose, from the cessation of firing, 
St. Sebastian has surrendered. If the siege continue, I shall endea- 
vour to obtain leave to visit the trenches. I never was in a finer 
humour to volunteer for a storming party, as, if I succeeded, I should 
perhaps be able to carry my brother's point ; and really, to carry 
it, I would give not only the chance of life, but perhaps life itself." 

These and many other circumstances have made his death pe- 
culiarly affecting to his near connexions and friends. They would 
almost justify the idea that he had thrown away his life : but the 
fact does not warrant any such surmise. His corps had scarcely 
entered into action, on the 28th of July, 1813,* when a musket 
shot penetrated the back part of his head (or his temples, accord- 
ing to some accounts) and passed out at his eye, and he fell sense- 
less ; nor did he ever afterwards utter a word, or shew that he was 
sensible, though he lived till the 31st. By some strange chance, he 
was stated in the Gazette only simply as wounded ; so that his 
friends were tantalized for more than three weeks before they ob- 
tained certain accounts of his fate. 

When to the above particulars is added that he was little more 
than thirty years of age when he died, it will not be thought exager- 
ation to say, that Colonel Le Mesurier was an officer of uncommon 
promise, and superior military talents and acquirements. His zeal 
for the service was unbounded ; there was no fatigue, or privation, 
or danger, to which he did not cheerfully submit. His attention to 
his men was unceasing. A strict disciplinarian, he felt himself 
bound, even on that account, to study particularly the interests and 

* The battle of the Pyrenees, near Pampeiuiia, in which Soult was de- 
feated with great loss, in his successive attempts to raise the siege of St- 
Sebastian and the blockade of Pampeluna.— En. 



2] 8 COLONEL LE MESURIER. 

the comforts of those, whom he commanded. They had, therefore, 
every indulgence which was compatible with discipline ; and this 
made them both orderly and contented. In him there was neither 
selfishness nor concealment. There was never a being more ho- 
nourable, or high-spirited and generous ; more kind-hearted or 
liberal. Warm as he was in his temper, he harboured no resent- 
ment, even against those, who, he thought, had dealt most hardly 
with him. To his merits Marshal Beresford bore testimony in his 
general orders of August 1 1 th : " The death of Colonel Havilland 
Le Mesurier," he said, " will be felt by the service, as well as by 
all, who enjoyed his acquaintance." Indeed, that such a man should 
be deeply regretted by his friends, cannot be wondered at. But the 
same Almighty power, which deprived them of him, will vouchsafe 
them humble and dutiful submission to his decrees. His will be 
done ! 

Colonel Le Mesurier, in the year 1809, published a translation 
of La Trille's Art of War, with notes ; which has great merit. He 
was also employed by Marshal Beresford to draw up regulations 
and instructions for the Portuguese army, which only waited for the 
Marshal's final sanction to be put to the press. 



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